Outreach
SNAPSHOT STATUS SHEET
August 2011
Overall Objectives:
1. Educate patient advocacy groups about the current value and future promise of molecular imaging
and prepare them to be powerful allies in maintaining and expanding access to molecular imaging
and therapy.
2. Increase knowledge among referring physicians about current value and future promise of
molecular imaging.
3. Raise awareness and deepen understanding among reimbursement administrative decision makers
(private health insurance, Medicare, radiology benefit managers) to balance the call to reduce care
with an understanding of the benefits of appropriate care
4. Create awareness of the power of molecular imaging and therapy in an effort to assist researchers
in advancing their discoveries to the clinic.
5. Develop a campaign outlining the benefits of studies performed by properly credentialed
physicians and technologists.
To implement the many, multi-faceted tasks, the chairs, Drs. Eric Rohren and Henry VanBrocklin
established three working groups. Initiatives are underway with the following organizations:
Oncology
The focus for the coming year will be to expand our collaborations with existing, broad-based cancer
groups. One of our key messages is that PET should be used because it provides excellent staging
information and can result in changes to planned management. . PET/CT is most accurate in staging
many malignancies (upstaging and downstaging).
ASCO: Andrei Igarau is our new ambassador.
ASTRO: Robert Atcher remains our ambassador. SNM is collaborating on the January 2012 Head
and Neck Cancer Symposium and has representation on the program and planning committees.
Topics and speakers are being defined during May. We will pursue SNM collaboration on their new
Bench to Bedside meeting.
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Commission on Cancer: Eric Rohren will take over from Dr. Atcher as our ambassador. Dr.
Atcher presented a poster on molecular imaging and the Clinical Trials Network at the COC Annual
Meeting in May. SNM has provided two newsletter articles for COC members this year on our
breast cancer symposium and on new optical agents for surgery.
In addition, CMIIT has initiated work with the American Association for Cancer Research, which is
interested in a joint molecular imaging/systems biology meeting with SNM/CMIIT in 2012.
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Neurology
The group has identified several objectives:
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Increase awareness among neurologists and family practitioners of currently available uses of
FDG for brain imaging—and in particular, the availability of quantitative image analysis for
dementia
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Increase awareness among neurologists and family practitioners about the newly available
dopamine and amyloid imaging agents, and what they are appropriate for.
Educate SNM members – nuclear medicine physicians and radiologists –about the newly
available dopamine and amyloid imaging agents and availability of quantitative analysis for FDG.
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Also important is to develop appropriateness criteria for using amyloid imaging agents.
Inreach and training is critical for reading scans. In addition to materials and meeting
sessions, the group is evaluating ways to provide site assistance / mentoring for
members, such as a plan for providing an “expert help service” that would allow
practitioners to submit anonymized scans and receive expert advice.
Identify and find ways to break down the barriers to reimbursement for procedures that are
approved. The group plans to work extensively with the Health Policy Staff and committees on
this objective to develop reimbursement strategies.
Groups for initial focus include:
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Alzheimer’s Association: Ambassador: Nico Bohnen. This organization already features
significant imaging content, although it tends to be more focused on MR. The goal with this
group will be to enlist their organizational support/endorsement of the clinical role of FDG PET.
ACR ambassador: Kirk Frey. We will attempt to petition them to reassess the role of dopamine
terminal imaging as a part of their assessment of Parkinson’s disease, and then possibly address
the role of amyloid imaging.
RSNA. Ambassador Sitoshi Minoshima. We are sponsoring a session focused on PET brain
imaging for RSNA 2011 and will propose a session on movement disorders for 2012.
Association for Frontotemporal Dementia: Kirk Frey
Lewy Body Dementia Association: Kirk Frey
Michael J. Fox Foundation: David Lewis
American Academy of Neurology: Norman Foster is the ambassador for AAN and he has
proposed a session for their 2012 meeting focusing on the potential of amyloid PET imaging to
improve the quality of care for patients with neurocognitive disorders and the potential for
misuse. The program will include nuclear medicine physicians knowledgeable about the
technical aspects of amyloid imaging and communicating with referring physicians, neurologists
involved in the day to-day care of patients with neurocognitive disorders, a member of a family
with familial Alzheimer's disease to provide the perspective of what patients want and don’t
want, an insurer familiar with setting standards of evidence for coverage, and a bioethicist to
discuss the ethical issues involved in amyloid PET imaging asymptomatic individuals.
The committee is considering developing several CME courses that we would offer on a complementary
basis to non-SNM members and work with AAN to advertise these to their members.
Cardiology
Currently, one of the biggest challenges in cardiovascular imaging is the deselection of MPI, which is a
direct result of questions and issues related to radiation. The group believes that the radiation issue
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SNAPSHOT STATUS SHEET
August 2011
must be addressed before we can tackle anything else. A society statement is being reworked into a
format that is more suited to a lay audience. The group will also focus on raising awareness of
molecular imaging as alternative to MR/CT angiography and the benefits of myocardial perfusion (vs.
stress echo). The group has discussed the need to work with CMS to ensure a new CPT code is
developed for MIBG for cardiac uses. Key outreach targets are:
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American College of Cardiology: Ambassador is Prem Soman. We will work to schedule a
leadership meeting to discuss collaborative efforts.
American Heart Association. Ambassador is Marcelo DiCarli. We submitted three abstracts on:
o molecular imaging in heart failure
o radiation exposure/comparative effectiveness
o vascular imaging
ASNC. Ambassador: Robert Beanlands
o Ambassadors for ASNC/NIH radiation meeting: Schwartz, Soman
SNM’s new Patient Advocacy Advisory Board met for the first time in Palm Springs in January
2011 and was followed by a meeting in San Antonio
For the first time, SNM held a patient program at the Annual meeting, which consisted of
private tours of the exhibit hall, special lay-oriented talks, and attendance at other key events
(History of Nuclear Medicine, plenary, President’s reception).
The following organizations are represented: Alzheimer’s Association, American Thyroid
Association, Men’s Health Network, Lymphoma Research Society, Komen Foundation, the
Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, American Heart Association.
The group is working on a series of monthly patient-oriented webinars that feature a patientphysician team.
SNM joined the National Health Council, which will provide us with extensive networking
opportunities with other patient groups, referring physician organizations, and pharmaceutical
companies.
We added lay-oriented articles to the website for prostate cancer and breast cancer.
Work continues on a new patient web-site. This site will contain specific disease-oriented pages
for cardiology, oncology, and neurology. The new patient site will be www.discovermi.org and
our tag line will be “Molecular Imaging: Healing Begins with Seeing Precisely”.
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