As discussed in the guideline, "Only appropriately trained, qualified physicians should interpret PET/CT images." The guideline includes a summary of PET/CT on-the-job training requirements for interpreting images that was developed by a collaborative working group and published in the July 2005 issue of JNM. Traditional training guidelines recommend a set number of continuing education credit and a set number of cases interpreted under supervision. However, alternative approaches such as determining the accuracy of each physician's interpretation compared to his or her peers using a workstation simulator and a report generation and scoring system may have equal or greater validity.

In addition, to be eligible for the recertification examination of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine, diplomats will need to participate in a maintenance of certification program and continue training in PET, CT and PET/CT image interpretation.


To help molecular and nuclear imaging professionals meet these guidelines and maintenance of certification for ABNM, SNM debuted its online maintenance of certification program, the Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment Program, last year. SNM's LLSAP program offers Web-based self-assessment modules covering the recent developments in nuclear medicine and correlative imaging in a number of specialty fields and addresses such topics as the technical aspects and evaluation and treatment of patients using PET, CT, PET/CT, single photon emission tomography (SPECT), SPECT/CT and therapy with unsealed radioactive sources.

Besides Dominique Delbeke, co-authors of "Procedure Guidelines for Tumor Imaging With 18F-FDG PET/CT 1.0" include R. Edward Coleman, Milton J. Guiberteau, Manuel L. Brown, Henry D. Royal, Barry A. Siegel, David W. Townsend, Lincoln L. Berland, J. Anthony Parker, Karl Hubner, Michael G. Stabin, George Zubal, Marc Kachelriess, Valerie Cronin and Scott Holbrook.

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine article, "Procedure Guideline for Tumor Imaging With 18F-FDG PET/CT 1.0," is currently posted on SNM's Web site at www.snm.org (click on Practice Management, then Procedure Guidelines). To register or learn more about SNM's LLSAP program, please go online to www.snm.org/llsap. To read "Concurrent PET/CT With an Integrated Imaging System: Intersociety Dialogue From the Joint Working Group of the American College of Radiology, the Society of Nuclear Medicine and the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance," published in the July 2005 issue of JNM, go online to jnm.snmjournals.org.

About SNM
SNM is an international scientific and professional organization of more than 16,000 members dedicated to promoting the science, technology and practical applications of molecular and nuclear imaging to diagnose, manage and treat diseases in women, men and children. Founded more than 50 years ago, SNM continues to train physicians, technologists, scientists, physicists, chemists and radiopharmacists in state-of-the-art imaging procedures and advances; provide essential resources for health care practitioners and patients; publish the most prominent peer-reviewed resource in the field; sponsor research grants, fellowships and awards; and host the premier annual meeting for medical imaging. SNM members have introduced--and continue to explore--biological and technological innovations in medicine that noninvasively investigate the molecular basis of diseases, benefiting countless generations of patients. SNM is based in Reston, Va.; additional information can be found online at http://www.snm.org.

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