The growth of positron emission tomography (PET), its coupling with computed tomography (CT), radioimmunotherapy, and new radiotracers and techniques will highlight this month’s 49th annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM of Reston, Va.).

The society returns to the Los Angeles (Calif.) Convention Center — the host city for SNM ‘99 — from June 15 through June 19. More than 3,500 nuclear medicine physicians, scientists, physicists, pharmacists and technologists are expected to attend the four-day forum, while more than 1,000 scientific papers, presentations and posters are set for presentation and review.

Some changes are in the works for SNM 2002. New exhibit hall hours will have vendors display their latest technologies on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Categorical seminars again will be held on the first day of the meeting — Saturday from noon to 6:00 p.m. — while the society holds its welcome reception in the exhibit hall from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Some traditions never change. On Wednesday, Henry N. Wagner Jr., M.D., will review key events and developments of SNM 2002 with his 25th annual highlights speech at 12:30 p.m. (See chart on page 50.)

With terrorism coming to the forefront of the news over the last nine months, SNM 2002 will offer a presentation on “Terrorism Involving Radioactive Materials” on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. The session is designed for physicians, scientists and nuclear medicine technologists who may potentially face a terrorist event involving radioactive materials.

The presentation will cover possible types of terrorist attacks, practical problems in implementing a citywide response plan, hospital preparation for such an occurrence, and the management of radiation-related injuries.

The medical community’s affinity for positron emission tomography (PET) continues to hold strong, as PET is bolstered by reimbursements for an increasing number of medical indications by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS of Baltimore, Md.) and the rise of molecular and fusion imaging.

Please refer to the June 2002 issue for the complete story. For information on article reprints, contact Martin St. Denis