PET-CT simulators for technologist training

The PET-CT exam without a tracer or a scanner: preparation, uptake, bed planning, CT-AC, fused reading and SUV. How training simulators differ from Monte Carlo research tools.

By the ScanFlo Editorial Team · Updated 3 October 2026

In this section · Simulation

A PET-CT simulator for technologist training reproduces the hybrid exam without a tracer or a scanner. You register the patient's weight, height, blood glucose and injected activity, watch the uptake clock, plan the PET beds and the attenuation-correction CT on one topogram, run the acquisition, then read the fused images and measure SUV. It is different from the Monte Carlo simulators physicists use to design scanners.

60 min

recommended FDG uptake period

< 11 mmol/L

blood glucose to proceed

359

PET-CT scanners in India, 2023

64–94%

of department dose received by technologists

Sources: EANM guideline v2.0 (2015); Singh et al. (2023); Li et al. (2020).

Training simulator or Monte Carlo simulator?

Search for "PET-CT simulator" and you mostly find research physics. Technologists need something else.

Two meanings of 'PET-CT simulator'

Training simulator

The exam workflow: registration, uptake, bed planning, CT-AC, PET, fused reading and SUV.

Monte Carlo simulator

Physics engines such as GATE and SimSET that model photons to design scanners and test reconstruction.

OpenGATE describes Monte Carlo simulation as "an essential tool in emission tomography to assist in the design of new medical imaging devices" and to optimise scan protocols (OpenGATE documentation). It is the right tool for a physicist and the wrong one for a technologist learning to run a list.

What does a PET-CT simulator teach?

Every step where a technologist's choice changes the result, most of them before the scanner starts.

An FDG PET-CT exam, step by step

STEP 01
Prepare
At least 4 hours fasting; blood glucose checked; weight measured on the day.
STEP 02
Inject
Activity scaled to weight and bed time; patient kept warm and quiet.
STEP 03
Uptake
60 minutes, acceptable 55–75, kept the same between scans.
STEP 04
Plan
Topogram; PET beds from skull base to mid-thigh; arms up.
STEP 05
CT-AC then PET
Low-dose CT for attenuation correction, then the PET beds.
STEP 06
Read and measure
Fused images; SUV or SUL in a volume of interest.

Summarised from the EANM FDG PET/CT procedure guideline, version 2.0. Follow your department's protocol.

Numbers every PET-CT technologist should know
Item	EANM guideline v2.0
Fasting	At least 4 hours, plain water only
Blood glucose	Proceed below 11 mmol/L (about 200 mg/dL); otherwise reschedule or exclude
Uptake time	60 minutes, acceptable range 55–75
Activity	Scaled to weight and acquisition time per bed; for patients over 90 kg, lengthen bed time rather than raise activity
Coverage	Skull base to mid-thigh for most oncology indications
F-18 half-life	109.7 minutes

The guideline makes the point that matters most for SUV: its consistency "depends on strict observance of the uptake time" (Boellaard et al., EANM, 2015). A simulator that runs the uptake clock and recomputes SUV from what was entered at the desk makes that lesson hard to forget.

ScanFlo PET-CT exam cockpit: a whole-body topogram planned as six PET beds with per-bed times, CT and PET axial slices of the pelvis, and the exam chronicle of topogram, CT-AC and a step-and-shoot PET acquisition. — ScanFlo PET-CT: topogram, CT-AC and PET in one chronicle, with beds planned on the topogram and a time per bed.

Why PET-CT training matters in India

The number of scanners has grown fast, from three in 2005 to 359 by 2023, and each needs trained technologists.

PET-CT scanners in India

2005as recalled in 2017

2017industry overview

95+

2018industry report

222

2023review

359

Counts from different sources and methods, so read the trend rather than the exact steps. Sources: Shinto, 2017; Sharma, IJNM 2018; Singh et al., IJNM 2023.

Globally the gap is wide. An IAEA-led analysis estimated that one PET-CT scanner serves about 601,000 people in high-income countries and 10 million in lower-middle-income countries (Gallach et al., 2020). In India, AERB's licensing rules require trained radiation workers to run a nuclear medicine facility, and in February 2026 AERB said its assessment of nuclear medicine technologist courses had been discontinued, following communication from NCAHP (AERB, 2026).

Radiation dose for the technologist

PET-CT technologists receive most of their department's staff dose, and patient positioning is the biggest single source.

Positioning is the peak

Positioning and discharge gave the highest exposure per event in one hospital study; remote positioning from the console reduced it (Nagamoto et al., 2024).

Technologists carry it

Across seven departments, technologists received 64% to 94% of the collective dose (Li et al., 2020).

Shielding helps

A 511 keV syringe shield cut the average dose per injection from 2.5 to 1.4 µSv (Roberts et al., JNMT).

Limits

AERB: 20 mSv a year averaged over five years, 30 mSv in any one year; 500 mSv a year to the hands (AERB).

The survey results revealed that the on-campus practical training using simulators deepened students' understanding of the content they had encountered in classroom lectures.

Koji Nakaya and colleagues, Suzuka University of Medical Science, Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology, 2024. Source

ScanFlo PET-CT MPR workspace: fused PET/CT axial, coronal and sagittal reformats with a 50% blend, a rotating whole-body PT MIP, SUV windows and findings tools. — Fused axial, coronal and sagittal reformats with a rotating MIP and SUV measurement, practised without a tracer.

What to look for in PET-CT training software

Patient registration that feeds SUV (weight, height, glucose, activity, injection time), a running uptake clock, bed planning on the topogram with a time per bed, CT-AC before the PET, reconstruction settings you control, and fused reading with SUV and lean-body-mass SUL on real DICOM cases.

Try it on the console

See the PET-CT simulator

ScanFlo PET-CT runs the exam from registration and uptake to fused reading and SUV, in a browser, on real DICOM cases.

See ScanFlo PET-CT →

Frequently asked questions

Is a PET-CT simulator the same as a Monte Carlo PET simulator?

No. Monte Carlo tools such as GATE model photon physics to design scanners, test reconstruction algorithms and optimise protocols; they are research software. A PET-CT training simulator reproduces the technologist's exam workflow, from patient preparation to SUV.

How long is the FDG uptake period?

The EANM guideline recommends 60 minutes, with an acceptable range of 55 to 75 minutes, and stresses that SUV consistency depends on keeping that time constant between scans.

What blood glucose is too high for an FDG PET-CT?

Under the EANM guideline, the study can go ahead below 11 mmol/L (about 200 mg/dL). At or above that level it should be rescheduled or the patient excluded, depending on the circumstances.

Who regulates nuclear medicine technologist courses in India?

AERB announced in February 2026 that, following communication from NCAHP, its assessment of nuclear medicine technologist courses has been discontinued. Course recognition now sits with NCAHP; check a course's current status before enrolling.

Can a simulator reduce a technologist's radiation dose?

Indirectly. Positioning is the largest source of occupational dose in PET-CT, so a technologist who has rehearsed the workflow and spends less time beside an injected patient is exposed less. The simulator itself involves no radiation.

Sources

Every figure on this page links back to one of these.

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