Message From the President

Helena R. Balon, MD
2006-2007 Central Chapter President

I am pleased that as of 2005, the year of the 50th anniversary of our Chapter, we reinstated the publication of the Newsletter, this time in a dynamic, easy to navigate, eye-catching, and colorful electronic format. This is mainly thanks to Davide Bova, MD, Editor, Karen Martin, CNMT, Co-Editor and Merle Hedland, Executive Director, but also thanks to many other contributors, without whom the newsletter would not have gotten off the ground. Soon, a new Co-Editor / Editor-to-be, Paresh Mahajan, MD of Troy, Michigan, will be introduced to you.

We just returned from a successful Annual Spring Meeting entitled “Nuclear Medicine 2006: Advances and Applications in Molecular Imaging”, which was attended by over 215 individuals (81% technologists and technologist trainees). The meeting was held on March 24-26, 2006 in Indianapolis, IN, AKA “The Crossroads of America”. James Fletcher, MD, Edward E. Wroblewski, MA, DABSNM, and Paul J. Reaume, BS, ARRT, CNMT, local program chairs, brought together an excellent group of speakers, many of whom are nationally and internationally recognized (Drs H. William Strauss, James W. Fletcher, Michael M. Graham, Michael D. Devous, Robert J. Gropler, Daniel H. Silverman and Paul D. Shreve to name a few). They presented some highly sophisticated lectures. The interactive and more practically-oriented sessions “Read with the Expert” returned by popular demand to cover cardiac, brain and oncology imaging cases.

I felt that in the place nicknamed “Crossroads of America” we were also standing at the “Crossroads of Nuclear Medicine”, with not one, but rather several major changes occurring in our specialty, all at the same time:

• Crossroads between Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging: Although we do not yet have a unified definition of what Molecular Imaging actually is, it was obvious from the lectures at the Spring meeting that our specialty is progressing from imaging various organ functions (such as perfusion, uptake, excretion, patency of various ducts, contractility of various organs) to imaging cellular and molecular processes (such as hypoxia, angiogenesis, apoptosis, protein synthesis, receptor expression and concentration) and embarking on in vivo tissue characterization (or, as Dr. Mike Graham called it – in vivo histology). Therefore, we need to start educating ourselves in areas that in the past we were happy to leave to the “basic scientists”. We also need to build communication roads between us and the professional societies of these related disciplines.

• Crossroads between Nuclear Medicine and Radiology: Although dual modality / hybrid imaging has been around for a while, we are still in the process of working out issues such as singular vs. joint vs. dual interpretation and reporting of PET/CT studies by Nuclear Medicine physicians and radiologists. Similar qualification, training and regulatory requirements are affecting the technologists, as well. Intersocietal guidelines addressing these issues have been recently published (JNuclMed 2005; 46:1225-1239).

• Several other “crossroads” such as the development of Advanced Practice pathway for Nuclear Medicine technologists, Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements for Nuclear Medicine physicians, new Nuclear Medicine residency training requirements are just around the corner for us to tackle.

I can see that we have some major challenges and a lot of work ahead of us. I am honored to be able to serve as Chapter President during these exciting and challenging times.

Helena Balon, MD

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