The UK PET Core Lab
The 'Core Lab' based at St Thomas' Hospital provides a service that delivers independent quality control (QC) and site accreditation for PET centres participating in multicentre cancer trials, central management of image data and assessment of all acquired images to verify adherence to the trial protocol and assess image quality.
The UK PET Core Lab has managed the data collation and PET image QC for 35 multicentre cancer trials utilising PET since its inception in 2008 and continues to expand.
The UK PET Core Lab can provide the following:
Primary roles:
- Contact with UK PET facilities that have completed an accreditation process for PET trials / accreditation of new sites
- Co-ordination of imaging aspects of cancer clinical trials in liaison with the relevant clinical trials unit or local co-ordinator
- Data transfer, QC and collation of imaging data
- Ongoing QC and audit of PET centres
Secondary roles:
- Advice on regulatory approvals that need to be obtained and how to obtain them
- Contact with UK PET facilities that have completed an accreditation process for PET clinical trials / accreditation of new sites
- Advice on protocols for PET-CT acquisition and processing
There is no funding available for the core lab functions. Therefore, additional funding, i.e. over and above the scan costs, will continue to be required, in particular for the co-ordination function. Funding for the Core Lab function should be applied for during the grant application process on a per trial basis. Please complete the costing request form and send to us at an early stage to obtain costs for your trial.