The “White paper of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) and the European Society of Radiology (ESR) on multimodality imaging”: a message from the EANM and ESR Presidents

Abstract

While nuclear medicine is growing, new areas emerge where relations with other medical specialties are necessary to deliver appropriate patient care. Cardiovascular nuclear medicine in the recent past, and now multimodality imaging provide clear examples. Fused and hybrid imaging with SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and other modalities represent an area of very rapid growth with important professional implications. In 2005, the executive committee of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) started formal contacts with the leadership of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) to discuss areas of common interest, to define forms of potential cooperation, and to advance multimodality imaging in medicine. In particular, both associations recognised the importance of coordinating working practices for such imaging systems and that undertaking the nuclear medicine and radiology components of imaging with hybrid systems requires different skills. To properly address this important issue, a strategy committee was called to give advice to the executive committee on how to develop the relations with the ESR. At the same time, the EANM executive committee gathered advice from national delegates and experts. Following the first contacts between the leadership of both societies at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2005 in Vienna, an EANM/ESR joint ad hoc committee was formed, comprising the president, the president elect and the president of the UEMS section of each society. This committee had a series of meetings to discuss training, accreditation and professional issues, and to plan educational activities. In the meantime, joint sessions during the EANM and ECR congresses have been initiated to highlight the clinical value of SPECT/CT and PET/CT in comparison with other existing imaging modalities. In this issue of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, a document entitled “White paper of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) and the European Society of Radiology (ESR) on multimodality imaging” is published [1]. This paper represents one of the results of the work that has been done by the joint ad hoc committee during the last two years and sets out the positions and aspirations of the EANM and the ESR to working together on an equal and constructive basis for the future benefit of both specialties. It was approved by the executive committee of the EANM, the executive council of the ESR, the general assembly of the European Association of Radiology and the executive committees of the UEMS sections of nuclear medicine and radiology. The document was presented at the EANM strategy committee meeting held in London in February 2007. It was also presented at both the EANMadvisory council meeting and the EANMextraordinary delegates’ meeting that took place in Vienna in March 2007. While it is important to underline that the white paper is not a formal guideline to be followed by all national societies, it is hoped that it will stimulate discussion in all Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging (2007) 34:1145–1146 DOI 10.1007/s00259-007-0495-1