"The 32,000 members of the ACR are proud to take such an active role in a project that is so vital in the continued effort to advance health care science and raise the standard of care provided to our patients," said ACR Executive Director, Harvey L. Neiman, MD, FACR.

"As a leader in imaging research, ACRIN has the infrastructure and thought leaders capable of making the NOPR a model for large scale collaborative cancer research. We are proud to have a major role managing this innovative project that has great potential to advance the effective use of PET technology for the benefit of cancer patients," said ACRIN Chair Bruce Hillman, MD, FACR.


Barry Siegel, MD, FACR, ACRIN researcher and co-chairman of the NOPR Working Group, said, "The NOPR affords oncologists, and nuclear medicine physicians, a unique opportunity to make PET available to Medicare beneficiaries and to improve our understanding of the role of PET in oncology practice."

"Working closely with NOPR is another example of CMS collaborating with the physician community to enhance the availability of innovative treatments and improve patient care," said Mark McClellan, CMS administrator.

PET, also called PET imaging or PET scan, is a test that images the function of cells to show differences between healthy tissue and diseased tissue. It uses a small amount of a radioactive chemical which is combined with sugar. This combination is called FDG, so the test is sometimes called an FDG-PET scan. It is used to evaluate various neurological and cardiac disorders, as well as for diagnosing, staging, and monitoring the treatment of many different cancers.

To arrange an interview with an NOPR spokesperson, please contact ACR Public Relations Manager Shawn Farley at (703) 648-8936 Office, (703) 203-0977 Cell, or shawnf@acr.org.

For more information about the NOPR please visit www.cancerpetregistry.org.

For more information about positron emission tomography (PET), please visit www.radiologyinfo.org.

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