Volume : VIII, Issue : XI, November - 2019

Current Situation of Nuclear Medicine in Saudi Arabia

Abdullah Alqarni, Hussein Farghaly, Hatem Nasr

Abstract :

Objectives: A survey of nuclear medicine services in Saudi Arabia carried out to provide a baseline data information about the practice of Nuclear medicine (NM) by the beginning of 2018. Methods: An electronic questionnaire was sent to every NM department in Saudi Arabia. Information requested included the equipment, manpower and type of examinations performed. Results: All the 58 NM services in Saudi Arabia had responded to the questionnaire by October 2018. The overall functioning manpower included 65 NM physicians, 190 NM technologists, 41 nuclear physicists, and only 9 radio pharmacists. At the end of year 2017 there were 21 PET/CT machines in Saudi Arabia (15 machines in Riyadh, 4 in Dammam and 2 in Jeddah), 55 SPECT/CT, 35 SPECT and Gamma camera Machines, and 77 DEXA machines. When adjusted to population, we found 0.6 PET/CT Unit per 1 M people, 3.4 total units (PET and SPECT Cameras) per 1 M people. Conclusion: The need for reorganizing the distribution of nuclear medicine services including the cyclotrons to cover the whole kingdom equally. Activation of Saudi Society of Nuclear Medicine (SSNM) is mandatory for establishing well recognized Nuclear medicine residency training program including other academic and scientific activities.

Keywords :

Article: Download PDF    DOI : 10.36106/ijsr/0421267  

Cite This Article:

CURRENT SITUATION OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE IN SAUDI ARABIA, Abdullah Alqarni, Hussein Farghaly, Hatem Nasr INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH : Volume-8 | Issue-11 | November-2019

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