By Willie Foerstner

The 2026 Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles made one thing clear: nuclear medicine is moving into the center of precision oncology, theranostics, radiopharmaceutical therapy, cardiac PET/CT, and integrated cancer care.

This market is no longer just about PET/CT scanners, tracers, or research. It is becoming a platform business built around isotope production, radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, PET imaging, AI workflow, therapy delivery, oncology referrals, cardiac imaging, reimbursement, compliance, and scalable operations.
The message from Los Angeles was simple: the science is here, demand is building, capital is moving in, and the bottleneck is execution.

Speaker and session highlights
Nuclear medicine is becoming central to oncology decision-making. PSMA, DOTATATE, amyloid, tau, cardiac PET, and targeted radionuclide therapies were presented as part of a larger precision medicine ecosystem.

The sessions focused on the pressure points that will determine who wins: isotope availability, radiochemistry capacity, reimbursement, patient access, dosimetry, trained staff, nuclear pharmacy support, AI workflow, and treatment-site readiness.

The ASCO-focused programming connected oncology trial data directly to nuclear medicine. The message was that nuclear medicine is now part of mainstream oncology strategy, not just imaging support. It also reinforced that radiopharmaceutical therapy is becoming a new oncology platform. PSMA imaging, lutetium-based therapy, and Actinium-225 targeted alpha therapies place nuclear medicine in the same strategic category as immunotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates, cell therapy, and precision small molecules.

The economics matter. Innovation gets attention, but reimbursement determines adoption. Across oncology, neuro PET, and cardiac PET, adoption depends on clinical value, access, workflow, and payment clarity.

Cardiac PET/CT — The new horizon is here
Cardiac imaging is entering its own platform shift. The market is moving from traditional SPECT imaging toward cardiac PET/CT, where scan times can be reduced from several hours to approximately 15 minutes while adding stronger quantification, workflow efficiency, and diagnostic confidence.

This is a major development for hospitals, IDTFs, cardiology groups, and outpatient imaging operators. Cardiac PET/CT is not just a faster scan. It brings myocardial blood flow quantification, improved image quality, lower radiation exposure, and better assessment of coronary artery disease and microvascular disease.

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