The Development of a PET/CT Programin Newfoundland and Labrador

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a type of Nuclear Medicine (NM) imaging technology that allows true imaging of human physiological and biochemical processes. At present, patients in Newfoundland and Labrador who require a PET scan must travel out of the province to either Alberta or Quebec at a substantial cost to the provincial health system as well as to the patient and his/her family. While the recorded number of NL residents who received PET scans in the past has been relatively small (fewer than 35 patients per year since 2004), these numbers may not represent the true size of the population that might have benefited from PET nor provide a reliable guide to future demand. Today, PET scanners are most often available only as ‘hybrid’ models that combine PET with computed tomography (CT). When PET is combined with CT, the fused images allow accurate simultaneous visualization of function or physiology (in the PET element) and anatomy or structure (in the CT element). A technology closely associated with PET scanning is a medical cyclotron; Locating a PET scanner close to a cyclotron is important for its clinical and research utility. This report was initially designed to examine researchbased evidence about whether the province of NL should acquire a PET scanner. Given that the Government of NL has announced its intention to purchase a PET scanner and a medical cyclotron, and that a further decision has been reached to locate both pieces of equipment in St. John’s, our focus has been on a set of ancillary, but still very important, issues that contribute to the primary research question, below.