National Oncologic Pet Registry (NOPR)

The National Oncologic PET Registry (NOPR) arose in response to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal to expand cancer-related coverage of positron emission tomography (PET) using f-18 fluoro deoxyglucose (FDG). Whereas FDG-PET was CMS-approved for only a limited number of cancers, CMS agreed to conditional coverage of most cancers and related indications for those patients enrolled in a clinical registry evaluating the impact of PET on cancer management. Thus, the NOPR was devised as a prospective registry to collect data on patients undergoing PET for cancers and indications not otherwise covered by CMS. The NOPR provides data on the clinical utility of PET for conditionally covered cancers and indications to help CMS determine whether unconditional coverage is warranted.

Sponsored by the Academy of Molecular Imaging, the NOPR is managed by the American College of Radiology (ACR) through the American College of Radiology Imaging Network. The NOPR is endorsed by the ACR, the American Society for Clinical Oncology and the Society for Nuclear Medicine.

Goals
The primary goal of the Registry is to provide CMS with data on the use of FDG-PET in cancer management to make payment determinations. Physicians' treatment plans are recorded before and after PET imaging to determine the impact of PET in treatment planning decisions.