King's College London

The anniversary event brought together experts in PET imaging, with talks reflecting on the PET Centre’s clinical journey so far and looking ahead to the next seven years of research innovation.

Hosted by Professor Alexander Hammers, Head of the PET Centre, and Dr Sharon Giles, Director of Clinical & Research Imaging Operations, the celebration highlighted the partnerships, shared professional expertise and collaborative approach that have made this world-‑class facility possible.

Over their first year, the total-body PET (TB-PET) scanners have allowed significant progress. The Centre has markedly improved its clinical performance, raising compliance with oncology scanning KPIs representing a major advance in service efficiency and patient care.

The supply of tracers – the radiopharmaceuticals used to create visuals in PET scanning – has also become more reliable and cost-effective. In the last month, the team has reduced the need to buy external tracers by improving internal production of FDG, a tracer used to visualise metabolic activity linked to cancer, brain, and cardiac disease, and PSMA, a tracer used to detect prostate cancer cells.

The Centre’s research activity has also expanded. Strong progress is being made in the TOTEM study, which focuses on optimising imaging acquisition and analysis protocols for TBP using data from patients undergoing clinical PET/CT. Other key studies include the use of novel tracers such as FSPG, which look at cancer treatment response assessment, and SynVesT-1, which is used for studying brain conditions.

The scanners’ ability to capture dynamic, multi‑organ images has improved opportunities for kinetic modelling and enabled imaging with both short‑lived tracers and those with longer uptake times, further enhancing the Centre’s research and clinical capabilities.

The Centre’s achievements have been strengthened by important partnerships, including collaboration with Imperial College London, closer links between the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s, and support from the National PET Imaging Platform (NPIP).

Looking ahead, the team expressed excitement for new developments planned over the coming year. One major advancement will be the rollout of cardiac PET using Rb‑82, a perfusion tracer that is highly effective in the diagnosis of cardiac ischaemia. Its accuracy is comparable to cardiac MRI, but it allows much quicker scans and can be used for patients who cannot undergo MRI.

The Centre will also launch imaging with Fluoride (NaF), a highly sensitive tracer that can detect cancer‑related bone lesions, infections, and arterial calcification. This will support both cancer and cardiovascular research.

From 2027, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust will provide the South London Paediatric Oncology Service, a move that will increase the need for paediatric PET imaging. The PET Centre is already recognised for its experience and expertise in paediatric nuclear medicine, placing it in a strong position to support this growing patient population. The TB-PET scanners’ ability to image much faster and with much lower radiation doses will be ideal for children.

The Centre anticipates that these developments – combined with expanded kinetic modelling capabilities and access to a broader tracer portfolio – will drive major advances in disease diagnosis, therapy planning and post‑treatment assessment, strengthening the Centre’s role at the forefront of biomedical imaging innovation.