Holy Name Press Releases

Study Confirms PET Has Major Impact on Management of Cancer Patient Care

April 25, 2008

Holy Name Hospital Participates in this Nationwide Study.

According to a study of data from the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) published online March 24 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), clinicians changed the intended care of more than one in three cancer patients as the result of FDG-PET scan findings.  

FDG-PET, also called PET imaging or PET scan, is a test that images the function of cells to show differences between healthy tissue and diseased tissue. It uses a small amount of a radioactive chemical which is combined with sugar. This combination is called FDG, so the test is sometimes called an FDG-PET scan. It is used to evaluate various neurological and cardiac disorders, as well as for diagnosing, staging, and monitoring the treatment of many different cancers.   

Holy Name Hospital is one of over 1200 facilities participating in the NOPR that contributed FDG-PET scan data analyzed for the study on nearly 23,000 patients.   

The NOPR was launched in May 2006 in response to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) novel "Coverage with Evidence Development" policy to collect data through a clinical registry to inform the center's FDG-PET coverage determination decisions for currently non-covered cancer indications. Sponsored by the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI) and managed by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the ACR Imaging Network (ACRIN), the NOPR is designed to collect questionnaire data from referring physicians on intended patient management before and after a FDG-PET scan   

As an NOPR participating facility, Holy Name collects from local referring physicians both a pre-PET questionnaire (documenting study indication, cancer type and anticipated stage, and planned management if PET were not available) and one of several post-PET questionnaires that assess the referring physician's planned management in light of the FDG-PET findings.    

Analysis of registry data reported in the JCO article found that FDG-PET is associated with a 36.5% change in the decision of whether or how to treat a patient's cancer.  

"We are pleased to participate in this innovative project and to learn of these positive initial results regarding the important role PET plays in the management of patient care," says Jacqueline Brunetti, Medical Director of Diagnostic Imaging at Holy Name Hospital. "These results are very encouraging.  The more we know about a patient's cancer, the better we can determine the best possible care options."  

Cancer types Medicare currently covers for reimbursement only through the NOPR include those of the ovary, uterus, prostate, pancreas, stomach, kidney and bladder.  (For a complete list of NOPR covered cancer types and indications, go to www.cancerpetregistry.org.)