Science was the star in Los Angeles at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) annual meeting, held May 30 to June 2.
Our top candidate for a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was the ever-popular Image of the Year, which went to a team at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, who developed a novel PET radiotracer that can accurately detect deep vein thrombosis in the legs and reveal whether clots have migrated to the lungs.
The meeting highlighted a bounty of research on new radiotracers for both disease identification and treatment, particularly in theranostics, as Jeremie Calais, MD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, explained in an interview.
AI was also in the mix, with a group from the U.K. presenting a machine-learning model that predicts radiation dose to tumors and healthy organs prior to radiopharmaceutical therapy.
Overall, this year’s meeting heralded in a rebalancing, as SNMMI president Jean-Luc Urbain, MD, PhD, described it, with more focus on cardiac PET and brain imaging in addition to oncology applications. Particularly, a new PET tracer for use in cardiac PET appears to be revolutionizing the field.
Meanwhile, incoming president Heather Jacene, MD, discussed what’s ahead this year, and noted that next year’s meeting in Washington, DC, will offer an opportunity for the society to double-down on educating lawmakers about the field.
Here’s the full list of our top stories — for more, check out our complete meeting ShowCast coverage.