Global nuclear medicine organizations are joining forces to standardize quantitative PET imaging

Global nuclear medicine organizations are joining forces to standardize quantitative PET imaging

Three world-leading nuclear medicine organizations - the SNMMI Clinical Trials Network (SNMMI-CTN), the Australasian Radiopharmaceutical Trials Network (ARTnet) and the European Association of Nuclear Medicine Forschungs GmbH (EARL) - have jointly endorsed a unified accreditation framework for PET/CT and PET/MR scanners to standardize and harmonize quantitative PET imaging worldwide. Signed on October 6, 2025, the Memorandum of Understanding represents a major advance for clinical trials and patient care, providing a harmonized approach that improves reproducibility, reduces duplication and supports more reliable decision-making throughout the research and patient management lifecycle.

Currently, accreditation methods for PET systems, as well as associated phantoms and acceptance criteria, vary widely between clinical research organizations (CROs), sponsors and professional networks. This lack of harmonization leads to duplicate testing, unclear responsibilities, increased costs, and inconsistent quantitative data.

The new framework directly addresses these inefficiencies by introducing a contrast recovery coefficient (CRC)-based accreditation system that replaces the current SUV recovery coefficient (SUV RC)-based methodologies. The new system is robust, scalable, adaptable to technological developments and applicable worldwide.

General adoption of the proposed framework will bring significant benefits to all stakeholders:

• Optimierte Protokolle: Sponsoren und CROs werden ein einfacheres, universelles Bildgebungshandbuch definieren.

• Effizienz und Kostenreduzierung: Weniger Phantomscans und weniger Tests werden die Kosten senken und die Zeitpläne verkürzen.

• Globale Harmonisierung: Für alle Regionen und Studien werden einheitliche Leistungskriterien für PET/CT-Systeme festgelegt.

• Verbesserte Datenqualität: Die Qualität der quantitativen Bilddaten wird über alle Studien hinweg konsistent, vergleichbar und reproduzierbar sein.

• Schnellere Standortakkreditierung: Validierte Protokolle und Metriken beschleunigen das Onboarding von Imaging-Sites.

• Sponsorenentlastung: Unklarheiten und Testpflichten werden für Sponsoren beseitigt, denen es an bildgebender Fachkenntnis mangelt.

• Klinische Übersetzung: Eine konsistente und reproduzierbare Leistung des PET/CT-Systems über Studien und Patientenversorgung hinweg wird dies unterstützen Übersetzung von Forschungsergebnissen in die klinische Praxis.

CRC-based metrics have already been integrated into data analysis and image quality reporting, making both CRC and traditional metrics available to accredited institutions. The full transition to CRC-based accreditation will be completed in January 2026.

The uniform accreditation of the PET system is a crucial step towards truly global harmonization in quantitative PET imaging. Through this collaboration, SNMMI, ARTnet and EANM are laying the foundation for a future in which data from any accredited scanner can be trusted and reliably compared anywhere in the world.

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