National Oncologic PET Registry takes initial enrollment steps

An RSNA attendee registers for the National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR), which began accepting preregistration at the Chicago meeting.

The registry is part of a compromise agreement between PET imaging proponents and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to enable Medicare to expand coverage to most PET cancer imaging procedures. The only such procedures excluded from coverage are initial breast cancer diagnosis, breast cancer initial staging to evaluate axillary lymph nodes, and melanoma staging to evaluate regional lymph nodes.

Although formal registration will commence at a later date, preregistration will get facilities started on the process, said Dr. Barry Siegel, cochair of the NOPR working group.