TORONTO - A new report suggests PET scan technology is underused in Canada and calls for a national strategy to expand use of the technology.
PET scanners -- short for positron emission tomography -- are nuclear imaging devices that are used for early detection of some forms of cancers.
The report notes that the World Health Organization recommends two PET scanners for every million people in a population -- but Canada has fewer than half that number.
Canada currently has 29 publicly-funded PET scanners with 12 located in Quebec and nine in Ontario.
Quebec accounted for roughly half of all PET scans conducted in Canada in 2009, and the province paid about 36 per cent less per scan than the average cost across the country.
In the U.S., there are roughly 2,000 PET scanners, for a ratio of about 6.5 per million Americans.
The findings were published by Advanced Applied Physics Solutions and TRIUMF, a national laboratory for nuclear and particle physics research and related sciences at the University of British Columbia.
The report says the high cost of buying and running the scanners is a barrier to increased use in Canada. It suggests developing a national strategy could cut costs -- provinces could negotiate collective purchase agreements with manufacturers.
It also suggests that the perception that other types of imaging technologies -- CT scans and MRIs -- are overused is impeding adoption of PET scans.
"Governments should consider the merits of PET technology based on its own capabilities, not on the possible overuse of other technologies," the report says.
