Moving the goalposts while scoring―the dilemma posed by new PET technologies

Prospective randomized controlled studies are regarded as the optimal method to demonstrate evidence for a clinical benefit by regulatory authorities. Accordingly, such studies have been major drivers in the past for the broad adoption of new radiopharmaceuticals and nuclear medicine techniques in routine clinical practice. However, as PET radiopharmaceuticals are often not patented, the perceived costs of patient scanning are high, and...