Letter from the President
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Jolanta Kunikowska
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Dear EANM Members,
Dear colleagues and friends,
I hope that you had a sunny and relaxing summertime and that you are ready for the upcoming EANM Congress.
Over the summer, the EANM Board and Executive Office have been working hard. For this, I would like to express my gratitude and respect.
Before summer fully approached, I attended in my role as EANM President the 10th anniversary of the European Observatory on the Supply of Medical Radioisotopes plenary meeting in Brussels. The EANM is very pleased to have been part of this group for 10 years and to have been able to actively exchange with all stakeholders within the sector because of this involvement. MEP Bartosz Arłukowicz Chair of the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA) was attending this meeting with a strong voice for the importance of nuclear medicine.
The new Policy and Regulatory Affairs Committee, led by Wim Oyen, is continuously providing recommendations to the EANM’s involvement in projects and tenders, such as the Project ‘EU Legal Bases for Radiopharmaceuticals’. Regular updates on these projects and tenders can be found covered in the EANM Policy Bulletin and on our website. Most recently shared was the new ‘EANM Position Paper: Nuclear Medicine. What it is. Where it goes. What it needs’.
The Multi-Society Project on Differentiated Thyroid Cancer is ongoing. A while ago, the second Delphi round was finalised, with a total of 60 questionnaires collected from 15 panellists per society (EANM, ATA, ETA and SNMMI). Within this round, a consensus was reached for six additional questions. The remaining questions will be further discussed in a consensus meeting that will take place in March 2023, involving representatives from each society.
Furthermore, I am very glad to inform you that in March 2022, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Thyroid Association (ETA) to remain an affiliated partner. We are looking forward to a great collaboration!
As part of a long-lasting and fruitful collaboration on prostate cancer between the EANM and the European Association of Urology (EAU), two consensus events were held to discuss the role of PSMA-based imaging and [177Lu]Lu-PSMA therapy. Among others, the panellists agreed with a very strong consensus that PSMA PET/CT must be performed in every patient who is a candidate for [177Lu]Lu-PSMA therapy. This consensus is a crucial milestone for Nuclear Medicine, emphasising the need for imaging before therapy. You can read more about it in the following articles:
- Consensus article: EAU-EANM Consensus Statements on the Role of Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography in Patients with Prostate Cancer and with Respect to [177Lu]Lu-PSMA Radioligand Therapy Eur Urol Oncol (2022)
- Editorial: EANM-EAU consensus on PSMA PET/CT in respect to radioligand therapy ([177Lu]Lu-PSMA) Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging (2022)
As PSMA and prostate cancer are hot topics, we dedicated Focus 5 to them. Save the date, February 2–4, 2023, and register for the event on ‘Molecular Imaging and Theranostics in Prostate Cancer – the Future Begins Today’.
In collaboration with the SNMMI and the IAEA, the EANM Oncology & Theranostics Committee Chair, Ken Herrmann, wrote the first ‘Enabling Guide on How to Set Up a Theranostics Centre’, which has been published. The guide provides some elements of reply to the regulatory, financial and medical questions that may arise when developing a Theranostics Centre. I think that this paper will be helpful across the world to raise the discussion about Theranostic Centres and their necessity.
As you might remember from my last letter, after the traditional spring meeting with our National Delegates, we also discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nuclear medicine departments in Europe. Additionally, in 2021 a survey evaluated the impact on academic activity. Now, I am happy to share with you the results of this online survey, published in EJNMMI. Thank you to Francois Jamar and all working National Delegate groups for this endeavour!
At the end of June, the first EANM Multidisciplinary Days were held. This fully virtual event was attended by more than 530 registered participants. We have counted more than 18,000 page views from participants coming from 50 countries around the world. We sincerely thank all session coordinators, chairpersons, invited speakers, and all participants for making the EANM Multidisciplinary Days such a great success!
Now, everybody is preparing for the EANM Congress in Barcelona. After two years of a pandemic going on, I truly hope that we will see each other there! Especially, as the enthusiasm has been boundless: the highest number of early registration tickets in decades was sold, and the exhibition is completely booked. So, stay tuned for further updates on EANM’22 and check out the programme.
Finally, I would like to thank all of our volunteering Committee Members, National Delegates, Working Group members as well as Board Members and the Executive Office for their hard work and support.
Yours,
Jolanta Kunikowska
EANM President, 2021-2022