News

House-Passed Appropriations Bills Advance Nuclear Medicine Safety, Transparency

Lucerno announced that Fiscal Year 2023 bills passed this week by the U.S. House of Representatives include critical language to improve the safety of nuclear medicine treatments and increase transparency within the American healthcare system. Press Release

Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s foot-dragging on patient irradiation suggests regulatory capture

“My analysis shows that the NRC findings predominantly parrot positions of the advisory committee and affiliated societies, such as requiring patients to determine whether a procedure was done correctly; requiring reporting only if a patient experiences permanent functional damage; or taking no action whatsoever.” Full Text

Free AltusLearn Webinar

Dr. David Townsend, the co-inventor of PET/CT scanner, Dr. Jackson Kiser, Medical Director of Molecular Imaging at Carilion Clinic, Dr. Darrell Fisher, nuclear medicine physicist, past president Health Physics Society, and previous member of the NRC’s Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI), Dr. Marjan Boerma, the director of the UAMS Division of Radiation Health, and others shared research on extravasations. You can watch the webinar and earn 1 CE credit here.

Findings: Unintentional exposure poses risk to nuclear medicine patients

Lucerno highlighted a peer-reviewed publication in the radiation safety journal Health Physics demonstrating that extravasations of routinely-used radiopharmaceuticals can cause unintended irradiation to patient tissue that “exceed well-established radiation protection and regulatory limits.” Press Release

2021 Omnibus Includes Nuclear Medicine Patient Safety, Transparency Provisions

Lucerno announced that the Fiscal Year 2021 Omnibus Appropriations Act includes critical language to protect the safety of nuclear medicine patients and enhance transparency within the American healthcare system. Press Release

Petition for Rulemaking Calls on NRC to Prioritize Patient Safety, Transparency

Lucerno submitted a formal petition for rulemaking to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which calls on the agency to update a 1980 policy that allows nuclear medicine injection errors to remain hidden from patients, treating physicians, and NRC itself. Press Release

Hospitals shouldn’t be exempt from reporting faulty radioisotope injections

“…NRC is now re-evaluating the loophole that allows significant infiltrations to go unreported. Requiring reporting would be a small step for hospitals to implement but a big step toward improving patient care.” Full Text

CE Marking

Lucerno Dynamics has completed CE mark self-certification.

ISO 13485:2016 certification

Lucerno Dynamics earns ISO 13485:2016 certification

Multi-Center Assessment of Infiltration Rates in FDG-PET/CT scans: Detection, Incidence, and Contributing Factors

“Since infiltrations can resolve during uptake and as the standard imaging FOV does not always capture the injection site, many infiltrations may go undetected. Infiltrations result in underestimated SUVs that can impact patient care emphasizing that it is important to monitor injection quality. Thus, identifying contributing factors associated with infiltrations may help stimulate quality improvements, reduce infiltration rates, and potentially improve patient care.”
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