SNM: Correlative Imaging Council
Report to the SNM Board of Directors
January 2011
Activities and Accomplishments
The Correlative Imaging Council has had several accomplishments since our last report in May
2010 which include:

Successful two days CT case review workshop at the SNM Annual meeting on June 8-9,
2010 in Salt Lake City, UT. There were 310 attendees.

Successful four CE courses on the following subjects at the 2010 annual meeting is Salt
Lake City, UTAH.

a. Comparative evaluation of VQ scans and CT Pulmonary Angiography.
b. New decade in bone imaging.
c. Correlative Breast Imaging.
All these sessions had excellent attendance and evaluations.
Organization of two day CT case review course for midwinter meeting on January 29-30.
2010 in Albuquerque, NM. There were 172 attendees.
The Council had a full day retreat at the SNM headquarters in Reston, VA on October 9th, 2010
and the following activities were discussed and planned:


Organization of a two day CT course at the Mid Winter meeting , Jan in Palm Springs,
CA
Organization of 12 monthly CT case reviews for the technologists each posted monthly
on the SNMTS website. The cases will be designed by the newly elected board member,
Dr. Amol Takalkar

On going improvements to the CIC web site, including posting of interesting case of the
month.

Working with Nuclear Technologist group for educational activities.

Organization of CE courses for the 2011 annual meeting on the following topics:
a. Basics of Radiation as related to CT and Nuclear Medicine procedures
with special emphasis on VQ Scintigraphy.
b. Clinical challenges of localizing infection.
c. Multimodality Imaging of Prostate carcinoma.
d. Innovative Breast Imaging.
e. PET/CT, Dedicated CT and MRI in the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract.
In addition CIC will sponsor the Categorical Seminar in “Current State of Oncologic
Imaging”
CT case review sessions will be conducted by CIC of 1.5 days at the 58th SNM annual
meeting in June 2011.
The board also discussed about doing basic MRI webinars and concluded to post pone
this project for now but to reconsider next year.
The 7th course of CT case review workshop at the SNM mid winter meeting in Albuquerque, NM
The 8th and most recent CT case review session was held at the 57th SNM annual meeting in Salt
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Lake City, Utah. The number of attendees at this session was 310. After attending the full
sessions each attendee received a certificate for 100 CT case reviews required by SNM and
ACR credentialing. Those attendees who had completed all 500 cases received a certificate
acknowledging that they can interpret PET/CT or SPECT/CT without supervision.
Criterion for the Annual Walter Wolf Young Investigator’s Award in Correlative Imaging was
discussed. This award was presented to Andrew Quon MD from Stanford University during the
2010 annual meeting in Salt Lake City. The paper was titled “Correlation between MRI and NaF
PET/CT in patients with patellofemoral knee pain. The authors concluded that NaF PET/CT
appears to detect additional abnormalities not seen on MRI in patients with knee pain. NaF
PET/CT is a promising adjunctive technique to MRI for orthopedic applications
Looking Forward
The Correlative Imaging Council was founded in 1978 to educate nuclear medicine professionals
about the emerging technology of ultrasound. It was decided that the new mission of the council
would be to provide education in CT, MR and emerging molecular imaging technology. The focus
in 2007-2010 has been CT education, which has been well received by SNM members. The
council is planning to have educational cases on CT and MR on the CIC website for the members.
In addition to CT workshops in 2010, the council will work with the Molecular Imaging Center of
Excellence and the PET Center of Excellence, on continuing education in basic science,
translational research, and potential clinical applications of nuclear and non-nuclear molecular
imaging technologies.
The council is also planning to have outreach program for international members, to plan PR and
patient advocacy by publication in highly published non medical journals and contribution to the
SNM chapters.
Board Members of the Council
President:
President-Elect:
Secretary/Treasurer:
Immediate Past President:
Directors:
Lalitha Ramanna, MD
Alan Waxman MD.
Robert F.Carretta, MD
Simin Dadparvar, MD
Claudia Berman, MD
Robert Carretta, MD
Lale Kostakoglu, MD
Lisa Wall, CNMT
Amol Takalkar MD
Kathy S. Thomas CNMT
Hossein Jadvar MD
Mission
The Correlative Imaging Council exists within the Society of Nuclear Medicine with the aim to:
Establish and maintain an organization of members with an interest in correlative imaging and
clinical practice for the purpose of providing a forum and a mechanism, whereby relevant basic
science and clinical practice information may be discussed and disseminated. Provide a
mechanism for the promotion and encouragement of correlative imaging and clinical practice
research and development. Provide a source of information relating to correlative imaging and
clinical practice affairs to the Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Lalitha Ramanna, MD
President, Correlative Imaging Council
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