Interview, Dr.Sijin Li, President Chinese society of nuclear medicine.
Dr. Sijin Li, president of the CSNM
China is the most populated country on Earth. For most of us, it is difficult to imagine how the Chinese population can access the nuclear medicine services that the Chinese patients need. Can you give our readers a synopsis of the status of nuclear medicine services across China and the role that the Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine plays to promote nuclear medicine in China?
Nuclear medicine started in China in the 1950s. After 60 years of development, nuclear medicine has become an important part of medicine and an independent department in most hospitals in China. In the last decade, departments of nuclear medicine were established in most municipal hospitals. Even some developed county level hospitals can provide nuclear medicine services nowadays. The services provided by nuclear medicine include in vivo imaging (PET/CT, PET/MRI, SPECT/CT, and SPECT), radionuclide therapy (out-patient and in-patient services) and in vitro analysis. According to the national survey of nuclear medicine in 2016, there are 891 departments of nuclear medicine, 246 PET/CT scanners, 6 PET/MR scanners, 774 SPECT/CT (or SPECT) scanners, and 101 cyclotrons, 1832 beds for radionuclide therapy. In 2016, about 500,000 PET/CT studies were performed (86.9% on oncology, 0.8% on cardiac and 2.7% neurology, respectively). About 2.1 million SPECT and SPECT/CT studies were performed (top 5 of SPECT/CT or SPECT studies were bone imaging, thyroid imaging, renal function imaging, cardiac imaging and I-131 imaging, respectively). Approximately 0.6 million cases of radionuclide therapy were performed (including 0.17 million cases of hyperthyroidism, 0.15 million cases of applicator therapy, and 60,000 cases of DTC).
Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine (CSNM) was established in the 1980s. The regular term of service is 3 years. It is now the 11th committee, and there are 11 study groups under the branch of Nuclear Medicine. They are oncology group, PET group, cardiology group, neurology group, radiopharmacology group, science and education group, foreign exchange group, functional imaging group, treatment group, and so on. CSNM devotes itself to many different fields, including popularization, technology promotion and academic communication of nuclear medicine; constituting guidelines and standardizing clinical use of nuclear medicine; serving as counsellors for the government administrations on policies and regulations related to nuclear medicine; proposing advices to the related government administrations about how to develop nuclear medicine. Due to the great efforts of CSNM, the related Chinese government administrations have paid more and more attentions to nuclear medicine, and formulated a series of policies to guarantee the healthy development of nuclear medicine. CSNM holds annual meetings every year. In the 2017 annual meeting, there were over 1500 participants. Each study group also organizes academic activities on ana annual basis. In addition, nuclear medicine branches of provincial medical association have been set up and a variety of academic activities were organized annually. In recent years, in response to the government’s new health care reform to build a new type of medical system with “serious illness should be treated within the county”, CSNM proposed the development strategy of “one nuclear medicine department for one county” and established new nuclear medicine department in county-level hospitals in many provinces in China. The establishment of nuclear medicine departments in county-level hospital will usher in a new and rapid development opportunity for nuclear medicine in China.
You are very familiar with the strengths and needs of the Chinese Health Care system. Can you give us an idea of the assets and challenges of the practice of NM in China?
China is a big country with over 1.3 billion population. Dealing with health and medical care problems is really a huge project. Chinese government has worked out policies and provided financial supports to guarantee that every citizen, no matter urban or country inhabitants, be covered by medical insurance. However, due to the huge population, the level of current medical insurance service is basic. SPECT and SPECT/CT studies, which are reimbursed by medical insurance, play a very important role in diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases, especially on tumor and cardiac diseases, evaluation of therapeutic effects, and guiding individual strategy of therapy. In addition, both hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer treated by 131I therapy are also reimbursed by medical insurance. However, in most provinces and cities, PET/CT studies haven’t been reimbursed by medical insurances. Besides insurance problems, there are several other difficult problems and challenges we have to face. For example, 99Mo-99mTc generators are, at times, in short supply. Furthermore, some important imaging agents, such as 123I-MIBG, cannot be regularly obtained in China. Besides that, the shortage of professionals is one of the big challenges to the development of nuclear medicine in China in the future.
China is the fastest growing nuclear medicine community in the world. How can the world nuclear medicine community contribute to the success of your and the Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine endeavors?
CSNM always devotes itself to communicating with the world nuclear medicine community since it was established. During the recent years, many staff members attended SNMMI and EANM to present their works and the progresses of nuclear medicine in China. Many young students studied aboard and came back to China. Meanwhile, many experts worldwide also have made great contributions to the development of nuclear medicine in China via multiple ways, for example, by introducing their latest developments in nuclear medicine in China and by collaborating with Chinese nuclear medicine centers. Finally, we hope that the world nuclear medicine community could offer more learning opportunities for Chinese professionals of nuclear medicine and help CSNM to develop and promote the development of nuclear medicine technology for medical services, especially in oncology, cardiology and neurology in China.
You have had the opportunity to read the first issue of the NM magazine Pangea-ePatient. What do you think of the magazine and what would your suggestions be to improve it?
The Pangea-ePatient magazine is not confined to the traditional approach of nuclear medicine journals. It explores a new educational and practical tool adapted to the current educational needs. It is a rewarding magazine which provides people from different disciplines rich information. After reading the first issue of the Nuclear Medicine magazine Pangea- ePatient, I like this journal very much. In the first issue, many different perspectives are presented, including code of operation, education and training, scientific research progress and the development of nuclear medicine. Additionally, this magazine uses a variety of languages, which is really unique! However, considering the journal’s international purpose, we believe English may be the best choice as it is the official language. Thank you very much.
