Fighting for PET in German Oncological Guidelines and for Its Reimbursement by Statutory Health Insurances

Precision medicine has a substantial basis in nuclear medicine and found its way into diagnosis and treatment of major and rare diseases. Apart from their scientific basis, further aspects are important for new medical procedures to be introduced into broad clinical care. In this matter, we in Germany have special experiences with PET which is still not fully recognized by statutory health insurances as the standard procedure of choice for many important indications despite its recommendation in international guidelines. This chapter describes the long way of PET and PET/CT into German guidelines and reimbursement for the example of lung cancer, to which the jubilarian made crucial contributions.