Nuclear medicine practice in Japan: a report of the ninth nationwide survey in 2022.

Subcommittee on Survey of Nuclear Medicine Practice in Japan has performed a nationwide survey of nuclear medicine practice every 5 years since 1982 to survey contemporary nuclear medicine practice and its changes over the years. The subcommittee sent questionnaires, including the number and category of examinations as well as the kind of the radiopharmaceuticals during the 30 days of June 2022 to all nuclear medicine institutes in Japan. The total numbers of them for the year 2022 were estimated depends on the 1-month data. A total of 1095 institutes responded to the survey, including 364 positron emission tomography (PET) centers. The recovery rate was 90.6%. The number of gamma cameras installed was 1299 in total, with 2.5% decrease in 5 years. Dual-head cameras and hybrid SPECT/CT scanners accounted for 83.8% and 35.5%, respectively. The number of single-photon tracer studies in 2022 was 1.11 million which means increase in 2.7% in 5 years. Bone scintigraphy was a leading examination (31.0%), followed by myocardial scintigraphy (27.1%) and cerebral perfusion study (23.8%) in order. The percentage of SPECT studies showed an increase from 63.5% in previous survey to 66.8% in this survey. PET centers have also increased from 389 to 412, as compared with the previous one. One hundred and twenty-two PET centers have installed one or two in-house cyclotrons. Increasing trends of the PET studies were observed from 1992 to 2017, the trend changed and PET studies showed 1.5% decrease in 5 years. 18F-FDG accounted for 98.6% (610,497 examinations). PET examinations using 11C-methionine, 13N-NH3 and 11C-PIB have decreased, with 1624, 2146 and 525 examinations, respectively in 2022. The total number of nuclear medicine examination was eventually increased by 1.0%. Therapies for pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma (PPGL) with 131I-MIBG and for neuroendocrine tumor with 177Lu-DOTA-TATE were newly started, however, a total number of targeted radionuclide therapy was decreased by 17.7% because 131I-radioiodine and 223Ra targeted therapies were decreased and supply of some radioisotopes was discontinued. 131I-radioiodine targeted therapy showed a decrease in 5 years (- 15.9%), including 4099 patients for thyroid cancer. The number of out-patient thyroid bed ablation therapy with 1110 MBq of 131I was also decreased to 1015 per year. The number of admission rooms specialized for radionuclide targeted therapy increased from 157 to 160. The number of 223Ra targeted therapies for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer (mCRPC) was 1041 patients. This survey was performed during COVID-19 pandemic, however, total number of nuclear medicine examinations was almost same as previous survey (+ 1.0%). Radionuclide therapies with 131I-MIBG and 177Lu-DOTA-TATE were newly started, and new radionuclide therapy will be available in future, therefore, the development of radionuclide therapy will be continued. We are convinced that this survey report is useful in understanding the current status of the nuclear medicine practice in Japan, and in devising the new strategy to strengthen a role of nuclear medicine.

Status and Development of Nuclear Medicine Over One Decade in Beijing.

Objective Our objective was to investigate the basic information of the personnel and facilities of nuclear medicine in Beijing. Methods This survey was performed by the Beijing Quality Control Center in 2018. The investigation included personnel, equipment, and clinical applications, and data were then compared with previous surveys. The paper questionnaires were used for the survey, which required information about the personnel, devices, and clinical applications. Results About 38 nuclear medicine departments in Beijing were involved in the survey. The number of nuclear medicine staff was 531 in 2018, showing an increase of 58.7% over the past decade. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) represented the main nuclear medicine facilities, and the total number of surveyed departments was 18, 24, and 34, respectively. The quality control results showed significant improvement from the 2005 levels. The total number of scintigraphy procedures was estimated at 199,607 (153,185 SPECT and 46,422 PET/CT). The estimated annual number of scintigraphy images was 8.9 per 1,000 population for SPECT and 2.7 per 1,000 population for PET/CT during 2018. The most frequent radioiodine-targeted therapy was 131 I-targeted therapy for hyperthyroidism in 2018. Conclusion Nuclear medicine has experienced rapid growth in the past 10 years in Beijing, either in personnel, equipment, and scintigraphy. Future efforts will focus on the use of new isotopes in the diagnosis, implementing quality strategy, and enhancing training.

2022 SNMMI Highlights Lecture: General Nuclear Medicine.

The Highlights Lectures at the closing sessions of SNMMI Annual Meetings were originated and presented for more than 30 y by Henry N. Wagner, Jr., MD. Beginning in 2010, the duties of summarizing selected significant presentations at the meeting were divided annually among 4 distinguished nuclear and molecular medicine subject matter experts. The 2022 Highlights Lectures were delivered on June 14 at the SNMMI Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada. This month we feature the lecture by Andrei Iagaru, MD, Professor of Radiology-Nuclear Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine (CA) and Chief of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Stanford HealthCare, who spoke on general nuclear medicine highlights from the meeting. Note that in the following presentation summary, numerals in brackets represent abstract numbers as published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine (2022;63[suppl 2]).

The Impact of Covid-19 on First Year Undergraduate Nuclear Medicine Students' Practical Skills Training.

RATIONALE: Clinical placement is an important component of any undergraduate nuclear medicine program. For first year students, it is an introduction to clinical nuclear medicine which helps them better understand the profession as well as consolidate their learning to date. At The University of Newcastle, Australia part of the clinical placement course includes radiopharmacy laboratory sessions in a simulated environment to develop necessary skills and confidence. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, restrictions were put in place that meant that clinical placements for first year students were cancelled and time in the radiopharmacy laboratory was reduced from two hours to one hour per session. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether a clinical alternative portfolio in lieu of clinical placement was effective in increasing the students' knowledge and skills in nuclear medicine practice and if specifically developed instructional videos for preparation of the radiopharmacy laboratories compensated for the reduced time. METHODS: A paper-based survey was given to the 50 students enrolled in the first-year professional practice course. This survey containing 56 questions consisted of both open questions and closed Likert-scale questions about the changes to the radiopharmacy laboratories and the clinical alternative portfolio in two separate sections. Quantitative and qualitative analysis was performed on the resulting data. RESULTS: There was a 94% response rate to the survey. The majority of students watched the preparatory radiopharmacy videos at least once and strongly agreeing that each video adequately prepared them for the associated lab session. Just over half (51%) of the students though the reduced time in the lab was sufficient to complete the required tasks. The majority of students agreed that the modules included in the clinical alternative portfolio increased their knowledge of nuclear medicine practice. CONCLUSION: In spite of the restrictions put in place due to Covid-19, the learning outcomes of the first-year nuclear medicine professional practice course were met. The preparatory videos for the radiopharmacy laboratories and the clinical alternative portfolio was positively received and gave the students a good introduction to clinical nuclear medicine.

Fifty Years of Radiopharmaceuticals.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the SNMMI Technologist Section in 1970, the Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Council board of directors is pleased to contribute to this celebratory supplement of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology with a perspective highlighting major developments in the radiopharmaceutical sciences that have occurred in the last 50 years.

Nuclear medicine practice in Japan: a report of the eighth nationwide survey in 2017.

OBJECTIVE: Subcommittee on Survey of Nuclear Medicine Practice in Japan has performed a nationwide survey of nuclear medicine practice every 5 years since 1982 to survey contemporary nuclear medicine practice and its changes over the years. METHODS: The subcommittee sent questionnaires, including the number and category of examinations as well as the kind and dose of the radiopharmaceuticals during the 30 days of June 2017, to all nuclear medicine institutes. The total numbers for the year 2017 were then estimated. RESULTS: A total of 1132 institutes responded to the survey, including 351 PET centers. The recovery rate was 90.6%. The number of gamma cameras installed was 1332 in total, with 7.0% decrease in 5 years. Dual-head cameras and hybrid SPECT/CT scanners accounted for 88.2 and 23.6%, respectively. The number of single-photon tracer studies in 2017 was 1.08 million which means a decrease in 5.7% in 5 years and 23.6% in 10 years. All but neurotransmitter system, sentinel lymph node, and liver scintigraphy decreased. Bone scintigraphy was a leading examination (32.3%), followed by myocardial scintigraphy (24.1%) and cerebral perfusion study (18.0%) in order. SPECT studies showed an increase from 47.2% to 63.5%. PET centers have also increased from 295 to 389, as compared to the last survey. The 112 PET centers have installed one or two in-house cyclotrons. PET studies showed 24.5% increase in 5 years, with oncology accounting for 88.9%. 18F-FDG accounted for 98.2% (630,570 examinations). PET examinations using 11C-methionine have decreased, with 2440 examinations in 2017. PET examinations using 13N-NH3 have been increasing, with 2363 examinations in 2017. The number of PET studies using 11C-PIB was 904. 131I-radioiodine targeted therapies showed an increase in 5 years (23.1%), including 4487 patients for thyroid cancer. Out-patient thyroid bed ablation therapy with 1,110 MBq of 131I accounted for 36.6% of cancer patients. The number of admission rooms increased from 135 to 157 in 5 years. The number of 223Ra targeted therapies for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer was 1194 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Single-photon examinations showed a continuous tendency toward a decline in the survey. In contrast, the number of hybrid SPECT/CT scanner examinations has increased. PET/CT study and radionuclide targeted therapy have steadily increased.