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SNMMI 2025 News, Image of the Year, and New Radiotracers
June 26, 2025
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Together with
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“You’d prefer we stand on the sidelines while Geoffrey Hinton and his friends build radiology AI without us? That’s the fastest way to guarantee we get replaced. If we’re not part of the development, we won’t be part of the outcome.”
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The always-quotable Amine Korchi, MD, on how radiologists should be involved in AI development.
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The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging wrapped up its annual meeting in New Orleans this week, demonstrating the growing influence of new PET radiotracers and the rise of theranostics as a discipline that forms the foundation of precision medicine.
The importance of new PET tracers is evident in the selection of SNMMI 2025’s Image of the Year, a peptide-based PET tracer called fluorine-18 AlF-NOTA-PCP2, developed by researchers from China for imaging patients with head and neck cancers.
- The tracer targets PD-L1 expression from tumors, and in an SNMMI 2025 study with 40 patients, it outperformed conventional FDG-PET. Clinical availability is expected in the next 2-3 years.
SNMMI’s Abstract of the Year went to a Canadian study using PET with GE HealthCare’s Flyrcado fluorine-18 flurpiridaz cardiac radiotracer.
- In 220 patients with coronary artery disease, Flyrcado accurately quantified myocardial flow reserve after exercise and pharmacologic stress, creating the possibility of a first-line test for people with CAD.
Other SNMMI 2025 highlights included …
The Takeaway
Nuclear medicine has long been considered one of the less dynamic areas of medical imaging, but that’s changing with its new focus on theranostics. This year’s SNMMI 2025 shows the progress being made, with more advances on the horizon.
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Reach New Heights with Enterprise Imaging Cloud
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The Leader in Molecular Imaging
United Imaging’s uMI portfolio of solutions is designed to help you lead the way in molecular imaging. From digital PET/CT systems designed to stand the test of time to the cutting-edge uEXPLORER total-body PET scanner, discover the uMI difference today.
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Optimize Radiology Workflows
Harness cloud and AI technology to help your radiology teams unlock insights, increase efficiencies, and improve patient care. Learn more about an integrated approach to AI in radiology in this e-book from Microsoft.
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- Vendor Progress with New Radiotracers: Companies developing diagnostic radiotracers as commercial products had a prominent presence at SNMMI 2025. Nuclear pharmacy operator Cardinal Health touted its support for theranostics programs with its Nuctrac module and gallium-68 and actinium-225 production abilities, while Blue Earth Diagnostics highlighted seven studies on its Posluma and Axumin PET tracers. Lantheus pointed to a series of talks with PET tracers it is developing for prostate cancer and cardiovascular imaging, as well as its Pylarify agent.
- Therapeutic Radiopharma Agents Advance: In the therapeutic radiopharmaceutical segment, Perspective Therapeutics presented a dosimetry study at SNMMI 2025 on its lead-212 VMT-α-NET oncology therapeutic agent, while Telix Pharmaceuticals pointed to studies with its TLX591 treatment for advanced prostate cancer and TLX252 alpha therapy candidate. ITM Isotope Technologies Munich updated SNMMI attendees on its collaboration with Debiopharm evaluating the theranostic pair ITM-94/ITM-91 for patients with solid tumors. And Ratio Therapeutics inked a deal with Nusano for PET radiopharmaceuticals for treatment and monitoring.
- Siemens Strikes MGH Theranostics Alliance: Siemens Healthineers signed a theranostics research collaboration with MGH, with the two parties setting up a Therapy Command Center to support theranostics use at MGH-affiliated centers. The center will help MGH collect patient and lab data to expand theranostics in the region, and will use Siemens’ Biograph Vision Quadra and Biograph Trinion PET/CT scanners to assess the impact of therapeutic radiation on molecular and biological processes and monitor treatment effectiveness.
- GE Pursues Total-Body PET with Stanford: GE HealthCare renewed a research collaboration with Stanford University that includes a focus on developing total-body PET/CT. By using a long-axis PET gantry with more detectors than conventional systems, total-body PET offers the promise of faster, ultrahigh-resolution scans that could spur PET adoption beyond oncology. GE noted its total-body PET research is focused on ultralow-dose scans, fast acquisitions, and multi-organ dynamic and dual-tracer imaging. GE’s technology is still under development and does not have regulatory clearance.
- SNMMI Highlights from Smaller Vendors: The big OEMs weren’t the only companies making news at SNMMI 2025. Serac Imaging Systems highlighted the first U.S. clinical use of its Seracam hybrid optical-gamma camera bedside device, as well as a study using Seracam for breast cancer lymphoscintigraphy. Meanwhile, RadioMedix debuted RAHA-100, a benchtop generator for producing lead-212 for targeted alpha therapy radiopharmaceuticals. And Catalyst MedTech announced a distribution deal for CareMiBrain, an ultrahigh-resolution dedicated brain PET system developed by MindView/OncoVision.
- Half-Dose Gadopiclenol Equals Conventional GBCA: A half dose of the high-relaxivity gadolinium-based contrast agent gadopiclenol (Guerbet and Bracco) performed just as well as a standard GBCA for pediatric brain MRI scans. In a study in AJR of 38 patients, researchers found that MRI scans with gadopiclenol at 0.05 mmol/kg dose had higher contrast ratios in some brain regions than gadoterate meglumine at 0.1 mmol/kg, with no difference in other areas. There was also no difference in contrast to noise, showing gadopiclenol can reduce gadolinium exposure.
- Late-Stage Breast Cancer in Older Women: A new study in JAMA Network Open detects shifts in breast cancer incidence in the U.S. While annual incidence rose 0.4% in women 65-74, rates of distant diagnosis fell, probably due to earlier detection. Incidence was stable in women 75-84 and fell -1.1% in women 85 and older, but rates of distant-stage diagnoses rose faster in both older groups compared to women 65-74 (1.64% for both vs. 1.13%), perhaps due to changing guidelines that discourage screening women over 75.
- How Should BAC Be Reported to Women? Breast arterial calcification measurements from mammograms can be an important predictor of cardiovascular disease. In an article in JACC: Advances, researchers from Northwell Health System describe how they do it in a BAC notification program they started in 2024, which through October had reported BAC results on 88k mammograms, with calcifications present on 13%. BAC reporting takes “minimal” time to report and has not affected mammogram reading times.
- Intelerad Touts New Customer Focus: Intelerad is highlighting results of a new customer focus initiative. Intelerad implemented the program after a two-year period of rapid acquisitions it said outpaced its “ability to consistently deliver the high-touch experience that its clients had come to expect.” The new focus includes the recent hiring of Eric Grunden as chief client officer, as well as a “client obsession” initiative to identify infrastructure issues before they escalate, and adding more staff to the company’s client success management team.
- Annalise AI Goes Live in Singapore: Harrison.ai’s Annalise.ai chest X-ray AI solution has gone live across the Parkway Radiology network in Singapore. Parkway clinicians are using Annalise.ai Enterprise CXR to identify up to 124 findings on chest radiographs, and the solution is expected to be used on over 85k patients a year.
- PanEcho Analyzes Multiple Echo Views: Research on Yale University’s PanEcho AI algorithm for echocardiography was published this week in JAMA. Researchers tested PanEcho on 24.4k echo exams, finding that it performed 18 diagnostic classification tasks with a median AUC of 0.91 and estimated 21 echo parameters with a median normalized mean absolute error of 0.13. PanEcho performs tasks such as estimating left ventricular ejection fraction and detecting severe stenosis and ventricular systolic dysfunction. The study was originally presented at AHA 2024.
- Cardiac Imaging Pioneer Schoepf Dies: Cardiac imaging pioneer Joseph Schoepf, MD, passed away earlier this month. A professor of radiology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, Schoepf was an early user of many cardiac CT technologies and authored landmark papers on the first uses of CT for cardiac imaging, reducing radiation exposure with cardiac CT, and standardized reporting of coronary artery disease with CAD-RADS. Most recently he was involved in the development of cardiac applications for photon-counting CT.
- Radiology Recruiter Corbett Passes Away: In a major loss for private-practice radiology, Daniel Corbett passed away this week after a battle with cancer. Corbett was co-founder of recruiting firm Radiology Business Solutions and had his finger on the pulse of employment trends in private-practice radiology, offering perspectives on hiring and recruiting trends that were often a bellwether of the segment’s health.
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Unprecedented Insights Made Possible with AI
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Enterprise Imaging in Action
Find out how Presbyterian Healthcare increased patient engagement and met regulatory requirements by image-enabling their patient portal in this downloadable white paper from Merge.
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The Benefits of Structured Reporting
Kailo Medical hopes to revolutionize radiology with its structured reporting solutions. At SIIM 2025, we talked to Lauren Therriault and Denholm Rhys about the latest developments at the company and why structured reporting is a benefit to radiologists.
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- AI Innovations in Lung Disease: In this June 26 webcast, join executives from Riverain Technologies and GE HealthCare as they discuss AI applications developed to detect lung nodules, in particular how AI applications can be integrated into PACS.
- Adding Digital Pathology to Enterprise Imaging: In this on-demand video from SIIM 2025 hosted by Mach7, watch as a panel of industry experts discusses how to add digital pathology images into a healthcare organization’s overall enterprise imaging strategy.
- Overcoming Data Incompatibilities: Mergers and acquisitions can create data integration challenges for healthcare providers. Learn how the merger of Enlitic and Laitek can help your practice through their cutting-edge solutions that lead to successful data migrations.
- Radiology Advocacy, Challenges, and Innovation: In this episode of The Radiology Report podcast, Medality CEO Daniel Arnold sits down with Reno Radiological Associates CEO Anthony Dispenziere to discuss the business behind independent radiology practice and what it takes to stay competitive in an increasingly complex healthcare landscape.
- AI for Pediatric Fracture Detection: Pediatric fractures are common but can be easily missed on radiography. Meanwhile, AI tools for fracture detection have mostly been tested in adults. Learn how Gleamer’s BoneView AI solution helped clinicians find fractures in kids in a recent research study.
- Start at the Source to Improve MRI: Looking for ways to improve MRI speed and image quality while addressing broader concerns in healthcare? The answer may lie in proven MRI physics in your existing scanner – learn how to unlock it with STAGE from SpinTech MRI.
- Maximize New CCTA Reimbursement with Philips CT 5300: Coronary CTA is the preferred noninvasive exam for detecting and ruling out CAD. Updated guidelines and improved reimbursement reinforce its value for stable or atypical chest pain. The CT 5300 from Philips delivers fast, high-quality, low-dose cardiac imaging using AI and zero-click motion correction.
- Integrating AI into Clinical Practice: AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, but it requires a collaborative effort between clinicians and AI experts. In this micro-learning course from Calantic by Bayer, learn about the latest developments in healthcare AI.
- The Benefits of Operational AI: Explore the transformative potential of operational AI in healthcare in this on-demand webinar hosted by Blackford. Learn from the company’s partners how AI can help your practice operate more efficiently.
- Give Patients a Clear Path to Accessing Medical Data: Clearpath is a simple integration that empowers digital delivery of medical records and images. Request a demo today to find out how you can ditch the disc and give your patients and third parties instant access to digital data.
- A New Benchmark for Tomo Imaging: There’s a new benchmark for digital breast tomosynthesis 3D images with MAMMOMAT B.brilliant from Siemens Healthineers. The system’s 50° wide-angle tomosynthesis helps you achieve excellent outcomes for your patients, radiologists, and breast care professionals.
- AI Echo in the Netherlands: Us2.ai is now being used at two leading hospitals in the Netherlands, bringing advanced AI technology to echocardiography patients in the country. Learn more about these two milestone deployments on this page.
- An Update from DeepHealth: What are the latest developments at DeepHealth? Check out this video interview with company executives Kees Wesdorp and Niccolo Stefani, who discuss the company’s recent highlights.
- Say Goodbye to On-Premises Costs: Free up resources with cloud-based solutions from Optum for medical imaging. Visit this page to see how you can say goodbye to on-premises costs!
- Presenting Unboxing AI: Check out CARPL’s video series, Unboxing AI, featuring experts discussing AI and its future in radiology. The next episode on June 26 features Chander Shekhar Sibal of Fujifilm India – reserve your seat today.
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