SNM congratulates NOPR and its supporting organizations on successful conclusion ...( Reston Va. SNM congratulates the Aca...),Health

Reston, Va. SNM congratulates the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI), the American College of Radiology (ACR) and ACR Imaging Network (ACRIN) on the recent release of significant data from the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) that dramatically illustrate the effectiveness of positron emission tomography (PET) in the diagnosis of cancer.

The studyreported in an article authored by Hillner et al. published March 24 online in the Journal of Clinical Oncologyanalyzed data from nearly 23,000 patients contributed by more than 1200 facilities nationwide. It showed that clinicians changed the intended care of more than one in three cancer patients as the result of FDG-PET scan findings.

FDG-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 is used to evaluate various neurological and cardiac disorders as well as for diagnosing, staging, and monitoring the treatment of many different cancers.

In response to this positive data, NOPR has formally asked CMS to reconsider the current National Coverage decision on FDG-PET to end the data collection requirements for diagnosis, staging and restaging. CMS will review the data and issue their decision regarding reimbursement for PET scans covered only through the NOPR.

The authors believe that the data collected by NOPR fulfils an unmet need with its primary scientific aim of measuring the impact of PET on patient management in a manner that is minimally intrusive to care providers. They also state that our findings are representative of Medicare patients for whom PET would be ordered if it were covered by CMS for the expanded indications.

The NOPR was developed in response to a proposal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand coverage for FDG-PET to include cancers and indications not presently eligible for Medicare reimbursement, including cancers of the ov
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