Medicare Covers Three New PET Uses in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment

WASHINGTON-Medicare will cover three additional uses of positron emission tomography (PET) for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In addition to the previously covered uses for the diagnostic evaluation of solitary pulmonary nodules and for staging non-small-cell lung cancer, PET will now be covered for the detection and localization of recurrent colorectal cancer with rising CEA levels; the staging and characterization of both Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in place of a gallium scan or lymphangiogram; and the identification of metastases in melanoma recurrence in place of gallium scans.