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Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence

India has the scanners.
Now it has the readers.

Sub-specialty PET-CT and gamma camera reporting, read and signed by credentialed nuclear medicine physicians and led by Dr. Ajit Shinto. Delivered to any centre in India, wherever the scanner is.

By 5C Network Launched September 2026
Send us your NM studies See a PET-CT report, level by level

TL;DR

5C Network's Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence is a remote, distributed reporting service, headquartered in Bengaluru, that connects PET-CT and gamma camera scanners anywhere in India to a national panel of credentialed nuclear medicine physicians, led by Dr. Ajit Shinto, with structured reporting criteria and AI decision support built into the read. Every report is read and signed by a nuclear medicine physician. Reports follow PERCIST, Lugano, PSMA-RADS and SSTR-RADS, and they come at three depths, up to a tumour-board-ready report. It exists because India's 500+ PET-CT scanners depend on about 800 nuclear medicine physicians.

The gap we were built for

Reading PET-CT is licence-bound specialist work, so general radiologists cannot close this gap. The result is a scanner in a Tier-2 city running below capacity while oncologists send patients hours away.

500+
PET-CT scanners installed in India
~350
SPECT and gamma cameras
~800
nuclear medicine physicians to read them
~40
new specialists trained a year
13%
annual growth in scan volumes

India figures as stated in 5C Network's launch announcement, 23 September 2026.

What the Centre of Excellence reads

PET-CT and gamma camera, under one panel of nuclear medicine physicians

PET-CT

PET-CT reporting →
  • FDG PET-CTWhole-body oncology: staging, restaging, surveillance and response assessment
  • PSMA PET-CTProstate cancer, reported with PSMA-RADS
  • DOTA / SSTR PET-CTNeuroendocrine tumours, reported with SSTR-RADS
  • Cardiac and brain PET-CTRegional FDG studies for the heart and brain

Gamma camera and SPECT

Gamma camera reporting →
  • Bone scanWhole-body skeletal scintigraphy
  • Thyroid scanThyroid uptake and imaging
  • Renal DTPA and DMSARenal function and cortical scarring
  • HIDA scanHepatobiliary function
  • Myocardial perfusionCardiac rest and stress studies

A report that is part of the care decision

A nuclear medicine report should tell the treating team how much disease there is, whether the therapy is working and what should change. Every PET-CT report comes at one of three depths, matched to who reads it.

For diagnostic centres

Standard report

  • Whole-body PET-CT read by a credentialed nuclear medicine physician
  • Staging, restaging and surveillance studies
  • Clear impression written for the referring clinician

For hospitals

Comparison and response report

  • Everything in the standard report
  • Side-by-side comparison with the previous study and report
  • Response assessment against the relevant criteria (PERCIST, Lugano and others)
  • Staging written to the criteria that apply to the cancer (TNM, Lugano, FIGO)

For oncology hospitals and cancer centres

Tumour-board-ready report

  • Everything in the comparison report
  • Response criteria laid out in a table, study against study
  • Comparison images with headers a tumour board can read at a glance
  • Confidence language for borderline lesions and an overall study-quality note
  • The questions the tumour board will ask, answered in advance: which site to biopsy, what a finding changes, what to do next
Structured criteria in the report
Criteria Used for
PERCIST Metabolic response of solid tumours on FDG PET-CT
Lugano / Deauville Staging and response in lymphoma
PSMA-RADS Prostate cancer on PSMA PET-CT
SSTR-RADS Neuroendocrine tumours on somatostatin-receptor (DOTA) PET-CT
TNM / FIGO Anatomical staging written into the report, by cancer type
Dr. Ajit S. Shinto, Head of the Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence

Who leads it

Dr. Ajit S. Shinto

Nuclear medicine physician with more than 20 years in the specialty. He commissioned India’s first digital PET-CT scanner and has personally reported more than 30,000 PET-CT studies. He has built nuclear medicine departments three times over: at Amala, at Kovai Medical Center, and at Apollo Proton Cancer Centre.

Full profile →
  • Commissioned India's first digital PET-CT scanner, at Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, Coimbatore
  • Personally reported more than 30,000 oncologic, cardiac and neurological PET-CT studies
  • Established the nuclear medicine department at Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur
  • Built Kovai Medical Center’s department into a regional centre of excellence over nine years
  • Commissioned the nuclear medicine division at Apollo Proton Cancer Centre, South Asia’s first proton therapy centre
  • Established high-dose theranostics and Lu-177 PSMA / DOTATATE protocols at Bharath Hospital, Kottayam
  • Chairs the Rhenium Task Force of the World Association of Radiopharmaceutical and Molecular Therapy (WARMTH)
“Nuclear medicine in India is limited less by equipment than by reading capacity. A remote reading model built on credentialed physicians takes that scarce expertise to centres that cannot hire it. What a Centre of Excellence adds is depth: sub-specialty readers, structured reporting, peer review, AI in the read. Better science, closer to the treatment decision.”
Dr. Ajit Shinto, Head of the Centre of Excellence
“India has the scanners but not enough physicians to read them, and it cannot add them fast enough, at roughly 40 new specialists a year against volumes compounding at 13%. A Centre of Excellence is how you make scarce expertise travel: pooled sub-specialty readers, interpreting to a high standard, with AI supporting them for speed and accuracy.”
Kalyan Sivasailam, CEO, 5C Network

How a study moves through the Centre

  1. 01

    Your scanner sends

    Studies arrive over standard DICOM from your PET-CT or gamma camera, with prior studies and clinical history.

  2. 02

    Routed to the right reader

    A credentialed nuclear medicine physician picks up the study. Sub-specialty pods for onco, cardiac and neuro PET are the direction of build.

  3. 03

    Read with AI alongside

    Decision support for lesion tracking, SUV quantification and response assessment is being built into the read. It assists the physician; it does not sign.

  4. 04

    Signed, structured, peer-reviewed

    The physician signs a report structured to the right criteria, with peer review as part of the Centre's standard.

More than a reading room

The Centre is also meant to raise the standard of nuclear medicine in India, and to make it a specialty students want to choose.

Research and publications

Multi-institutional studies and publication, led by a Principal Investigator on active nuclear medicine trials.

Theranostics

Helping centres build theranostic capability, and reading the scans that decide who is eligible for Lu-177 PSMA and DOTATATE therapy.

New diagnostic molecules

Bringing newer tracers into routine Indian practice as they arrive.

Therapy decisions

A nuclear medicine view on whether a treatment is working and what should change, written for the treating team.

Built for three kinds of centre

Diagnostic and imaging centres

You own a PET-CT or gamma camera but cannot keep a nuclear medicine physician on staff. Standard staging and restaging reports, signed by a specialist, so the scanner can run at the capacity it was bought for.

Hospitals

Your physicians want comparisons with the last scan and a clear answer on response. Comparison and response reports, with cover for nights, leave and overflow.

Oncology hospitals and cancer centres

Your tumour board needs staging, response tables and a view on theranostic eligibility. Tumour-board-ready reports that anticipate the board's questions.

In the news

All coverage →

Frequently asked questions

What is the 5C Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence?
5C Network's Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence is a remote, distributed reporting service, headquartered in Bengaluru, that connects PET-CT and gamma camera scanners anywhere in India to a national panel of credentialed nuclear medicine physicians, led by Dr. Ajit Shinto, with structured reporting criteria and AI decision support built into the read. It was launched in September 2026 and is already reporting studies for client centres.
Who reads and signs nuclear medicine reports at 5C Network?
Credentialed nuclear medicine physicians. PET-CT and gamma camera studies at 5C are read and signed by nuclear medicine physicians in the Centre of Excellence, not by the general radiology network, because interpreting these studies is licence-bound specialist work. The panel is led by Dr. Ajit Shinto, who has personally reported more than 30,000 PET-CT studies.
Is it a physical centre?
No. It is a remote, distributed reporting model headquartered in Bengaluru, by design. The point is to make sub-specialty nuclear medicine expertise available wherever the scanner is, including Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities that cannot hire a nuclear medicine physician of their own.
Why does India need remote nuclear medicine reporting?
India has more than 500 PET-CT scanners and about 350 SPECT and gamma cameras, but only about 800 nuclear medicine physicians to read them. Roughly 40 new specialists are trained a year while scan volumes grow about 13% a year, and the gap cannot be filled by general radiologists because PET-CT reporting is licence-bound. That is why many scanners outside the metros run well below the capacity they were built for.
Which studies does the Centre of Excellence report?
PET-CT: FDG whole-body oncology studies (staging, restaging, surveillance and response assessment), PSMA PET-CT for prostate cancer, DOTA/SSTR PET-CT for neuroendocrine tumours, and regional cardiac and brain studies. Gamma camera: bone, thyroid, renal DTPA and DMSA, HIDA and myocardial perfusion scans.
Which reporting criteria are used?
Reports are structured to the criteria that apply to the cancer and the tracer: PERCIST for metabolic response in solid tumours, Lugano and Deauville for lymphoma, PSMA-RADS for prostate cancer, SSTR-RADS for neuroendocrine tumours, and TNM or FIGO for anatomical staging.
How is AI used in 5C's nuclear medicine reports?
AI is being built into the read as decision support for lesion tracking, SUV quantification and response assessment. It assists the physician; it does not report. A credentialed nuclear medicine physician reads and signs every report. 5C does not claim regulatory clearance for any nuclear medicine AI.
What does nuclear medicine reporting from 5C cost?
Pricing depends on the study and the report level (standard, comparison and response, or tumour-board-ready), so it is quoted per centre. Tell us your study mix and volumes through the form on this page and the team will send the current list.

Send us your nuclear medicine studies

Tell us your scanner, your study mix and your monthly volumes. We will send the report levels and pricing for your centre, and a sample report on the level you choose.

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