January 1995

Keigo Endo and Katsumi Tomiyushi

Current status of clinical positron emission tomography in Japan On average, two clinical PET centres open every year in Japan, and 21 clinical PET centres are now installed with a PET camera and a cyclotron (Fig. 1). PET studies are performed mainly in patients with brain diseases, cancer and heart diseases using H2~50, 1502gas, ~SF-FDG, 13NH3, etc., and some results have been reported at international congresses. Most of the 21 institutes are owned by the national government or local government, but a few are privately run. One of the latter is a PET centre named Himedic, located in front of Mount Fuji and Lake Yamanaka (Yamanashi, Japan) (Fig. 2). At

this centre CT, MRI and/or PET studies have been performed for the investigation of cancer and heart and brain diseases. Three PET cameras (Ecat Exact, Siemens) and one cyclotron are installed at the centre and are used for the early detection of dementia and cancer. In Japan more than 65% of PET cameras are made by Shimadzu (Kyoto) and half of the cyclotrons are produced by Sumitomo Heavy Industries (Tokyo). Recently NKK (Tokyo), one of the biggest steel makers, has developed a small new type of cyclotron which accelerates 12-MeV H ions using a superconductive

Fig. 1 Location of the 21 clinical PET institutes in Japan

magnet, and which has already been employed in three institutes. The costs of clinical PET studies are not yet covered by the National Health Insurance. However, PET studies using 1502, C~50 and C1502 at Gunma University (Maebashi) and Kyoto University (Kyoto) and ~SF-FDGat Chiba University (Chiba) have been approved as a highly advanced medical procedure by the Health and Welfare Ministry, and full examination fee is covered for these studies. An annual meeting called the PET Summer Seminar was held in Tokyo on 24-26 August 1994. The PET center (Director, Michio Senda, MD) of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology hosted the meeting, which attracted more than 250 participants from all over Japan. This PET Summer Seminar was introduced in 1979 by a small number of radiochemists. The number of radiochemists and nuclear physicians attending the meeting has since increased substantially, and the 3 days of study not only entails detailed discussion and exchange of information on the clinical use of PET but also enables new friendships to be formed among those using PET in Japan (Fig. 3).

A Window to Japan

Address for correspondence:

Fig. 2 The Himedic PET centre Fig. 3 3/lichio Senda, MD, discussing ,, How to manage a clinical PET institute" at the PET Summer Seminar

Keigo Endo M.D. Department of Nuclear Medicine Gunma University School of Medicine Maebashi 371 Japan Phone 0081-272-20-8400 Fax 0081-272-20-8409

Eur . / N u c l Med (1995) 22:93

Vol. 22, No. I, January 1995 - - © Springer-Verlag 1995