SNMMI Clinical Trials Network Research Series for Technologists: Introduction

The field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging has grown tremendously over the past several years with the approval of new imaging agents, diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals, and radiopharmaceutical therapies. Clinical research continues to expand within nuclear medicine and molecular imaging departments. Working as a nuclear medicine technologist on a clinical trial or with investigational radiopharmaceuticals can be quite different from working in an approved-drug setting in the clinic. Nuclear medicine technologists involved in clinical trials can be at the front line of following rigorous trial requirements and ensuring good-quality data. The details of working in clinical research are often not taught in nuclear medicine technologist programs. As such, there is an emerging need for education about clinical research for both experienced and new nuclear medicine technologists, particularly for those working with investigational radiopharmaceuticals. This article is an introduction to the SNMMI Clinical Trials Network Research Series for Technologists. This series of articles aims to provide education on working in the context of a clinical trial within the nuclear medicine department. The following 7 topics will be addressed in the series: ethical issues in clinical research, application of good clinical practice to clinical research in medical imaging, contract research organizations with application in clinical imaging, a clinical research primer on the regulatory process for how and when radiopharmaceuticals can be used and the role of the institutional review board, use of imaging agents in therapeutic drug development and approval, imaging agent trials, and imaging agents with radiopharmaceutical therapies in clinical trials. Other topics may be added over the course of the development of the series.