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Note: This report originally appeared in the June 2008 edition of DOTmed Business News. A list of registered users that provide sales & service can be found at the end.

There is good news and bad news about nuclear medicine. First the bad news: The Deficit Reduction Act, which reduced medical imaging reimbursements during the past 18 months, has taken a toll. But the good news is that the clinical value of nuclear medicine and the promise of high-tech molecular imaging outweigh what most observers feel is a temporary lull in an otherwise exciting and growing field.

Nuclear medicine has many dimensions. It is a medical specialty, a laboratory science and an applied science fusing physics and chemistry. Molecular imaging is just one end of the spectrum of nuclear medicine, which encompasses research as well as clinical applications.

"When we do a nuclear medicine scan, you design a probe [radiopharmaceutical agent] that will target a disease process, a physiological process, or a particular molecular target," explains Alexander (Sandy) J.McEwan,MD, President of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM). "On the back of that you put a small
amount of radioactivity. Then you do the scan and measure what happens to the radioactivity when it gets into the body.




"If you can think of a diagnostic scan as a very small amount of radiation uniquely targeted to the disease process, or to the cancer to take a picture, then conceptually you can use the same strategy to deliver a very large amount of radiation to the cancer. So it's all part of the same spectrum," McEwan explains.

Dr. McEwan notes that the growth areas include oncology, neurology and cardiology, with potential expansion beyond those critical specialties.

As with most medical technologies, to get the full picture of nuclear medicine you must look at technological, regulatory, and clinical angles.

Technology angle

SPECT gamma cameras used in nuclear medicine represent the largest portion of the market for new and used equipment in this field, with 10,000 to 12,000 units in operation, followed distantly by new PET/CT and SPECT/CT systems. Stand alone PET is rarely sold now and the OEMs no longer produce new systems, although an installed base remains in service.

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