Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The status of nuclear medicine in China: the first official national survey

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aim/introduction

The National Nuclear Medicine Quality Control Center of China conducted the first official survey to investigate the nationwide situation of nuclear medicine in 2020. The survey aimed to unveil the current nuclear medicine situation and its quality control in China.

Materials and methods

The web-based survey was conducted and the data was collected via the National Clinical Improvement System (NCIS) of China from 1st April to 31st May 2021.

Results

A total of 808 institutes across 30 provinces responded to the national survey. For human resources, there are 4460 physicians, 3077 technologists, 339 physicists, and 309 radiochemists. There are 887 single-photon imaging instruments, including 823 SPECT or SPECT/CT, and 365 PET instruments including 314 PET/CT. Six hundred twenty-four institutes perform SPECT examinations and 319 institutes perform PET examinations. 60% of SPECT scans are bone scintigraphy. A total of 97% of PET scans use an [18F]F-FDG tracer. Furthermore, 587 institutes provide radionuclide therapy services but only 280 institutes have admission rooms. The top three radionuclide therapies are [131I] therapy of hyperthyroidism with 546 institutes, [89Sr] therapy of bone metastasis with 400 institutes, and [131I] therapy of differentiated thyroid cancer with 286 institutes. Finally, for the frequency of equipment quality control per year, there are about 67 times self-test within the department for SPECT instruments and 111 times for PET instruments on average in each province. There are about three failures of SPECT and five failures of PET on average per year in each province. There are 408 institutes (of 624 SPECT institutes) performing quality control of SPECT radiopharmaceuticals, 216 (of 319) for PET radiopharmaceuticals, and 373 (of 587) for radionuclide therapy.

Conclusion

These results of the first official survey towards current status of nuclear medicine in China are the foundation for the establishment of the quality control management system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

References

  1. Hongwei S, Jianhua G, Shengzu C. Nuclear medicine scans in Beijing: insights from the Beijing Quality Control Centre Survey 2005–2006. Nucl Med Commun. 2007;28(8):661–6. https://doi.org/10.1097/MNM.0b013e32822a1080.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Tang G. Nuclear cardiology in China : 2017. J Nucl Cardiol Springer US. 2017;24(5):1810–3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12350-017-0985-x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine. 2010 national nuclear medicine status survey. Chinese J Nucl Med. 2010;30(6):428–429. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.0253-9780.2010.06.019.

  4. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine. 2012 national nuclear medicine status survey briefing. Chinese J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2012;32(5):357. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.cn321828-20201109-00403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine. 2014 national nuclear medicine status survey briefing. Chinese J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2014;34(5):389. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.2095-2848.2014.05.012.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine. A brief report on the results of the national survey of nuclear medicine in 2016. Chinese J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2016;36(5):479–80. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.2095-2848.2016.05.024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine. A brief report on the results of the national survey of nuclear medicine in 2020. Chinese J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2020;40(12):747–9. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.cn321828-20201109-00403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine. A brief report on the results of the national survey of nuclear medicine in 2018. Chinese J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2018;38(12):813–4. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.2095-2848.2018.12.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dondi M, Paez D, Torres L, et al. Implementation of quality systems in nuclear medicine: why it matters. An outcome analysis (quality management audits in nuclear medicine part III). Semin Nucl Med Elsevier Inc. 2018;48(3):299–306. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2017.12.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10.  International Atomic Energy Agency. Quality management audits in nuclear medicine practices. 2nd ed. Iaea Hum Heal Ser. 2015;23(33):1–83. http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1683Web-68161172.pdf.

  11. Zenda S, Nakagami Y, Toshima M, et al. Strontium-89 (Sr-89) chloride in the treatment of various cancer patients with multiple bone metastases. Int J Clin Oncol. 2014;19:739–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-013-0597-7. Accessed 11 Feb 2024.

  12. Mu R, Liang J, Sun L, et al. A randomized multicenter clinical trial of 99Tc‐methylene diphosphonate in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases, 2018;21(1):161–169. https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-185X.12934.

  13. Fraunholz IB, Gerstenhauer A, Böttcher HD. Results of postoperative 90Sr radiotherapy of keloids in view of patients’ subjective assessment[J]. Strahlenther Onkol. 2005;181(11):724. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-005-1411-x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. WS 523—2019: Specification for testing of quality control in gamma cameras and single photon emission computed tomograph(SPECT). People’s Repub China Heal Ind Stand. 2019. http://www.nhc.gov.cn//wjw/pcrb/201902/62992c875dbd48e489d860a6b55c4cb5/files/6d18c99701cd46b1b4f6eb8aaf41bd8a.pdf.

  15. An J, Xu H, Fan S, Deng J, Cheng J, Sun Q. Analysis of basic situation of diagnostic radiology resources of the nationawide medical institutions. Chinese J Radiol Med Prot. 2021;41(6):450–5. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.0254-5098.2021.06.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine. Guiding opinions on the construction and management of the department of nuclear medicine 2021 ed. Chinese J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2021;41(12):748–754. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.cn321828-20210831-00305.

  17. Zhao Z, Wang Q, Yang L, et al. Current situation and development trend of nuclear medicine in China. Int J Radiat Med Nucl Med. 2020;44(2):92–8. https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-4114.2020.02.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. International Atomic Energy Agency. IAEA Medical imaging and nuclear medicine global resources database (IMAGINE). Hum. Heal. Campus Website. 2023. https://humanhealth.iaea.org/HHW/DBStatistics/IMAGINE.html. Accessed June 11, 2023

  19. Kwon SI, Lee JS, Yoon HS, et al. Development of small-animal PET prototype using silicon photomultiplier (SiPM): initial results of phantom and animal imaging studies. J Nucl Med. 2011;52(4):572–9. https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.110.079707.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Busca P, Occhipinti M, Trigilio P, et al. Experimental evaluation of a SiPM-based scintillation detector for MR-compatible SPECT systems. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci. 2015;62(5):2122–8. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2015.2481184.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Department of Medical Administration of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China for data collection.

Funding

This work was sponsored in part by the National High-Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding (grant number: XH-QN-012 K, 2022-PUMCH-D-001, 2022-PUMCH-C-037).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Targeted Diagnosis and Therapy in Nuclear Medicine, National Nuclear Medicine Quality Control Center, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (Dongdan Campus), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, No.1 Shuaifuyuan Wangfujing Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100730, China

    Haiqiong Zhang, Nan Hu, Yu Liu, Guangjie Yang, Meixi Liu, Hongli Jing & Li Huo

  2. Department of Radiology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Jin Zheng

Authors
  1. Haiqiong Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jin Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nan Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yu Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Guangjie Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Meixi Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Hongli Jing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Li Huo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Haiqiong Zhang, Nan Hu, and Jin Zheng. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Haiqiong Zhang, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Li Huo.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. The Ethics Committee of Peking Union Medical College Hospital has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 42 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, H., Zheng, J., Hu, N. et al. The status of nuclear medicine in China: the first official national survey. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-024-06687-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-024-06687-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation