5C Network launches AI-integrated Centre of Excellence for Nuclear Medicine in Bengaluru

image credit- freepik

5C Network, one of India’s largest AI-native radiology platforms, has announced the launch of its remote Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Nuclear Medicine.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, the distributed, remote-delivery network is engineered to solve India’s acute shortage of nuclear medicine physicians by providing high-precision, sub-specialty remote reading capabilities directly to hospital scanners across the country.

This launch directly addresses a critical bottleneck in Indian healthcare. Over 500 PET-CT installations and 350 SPECT/gamma cameras rely on just ~800 nuclear medicine physicians nationwide. With PET-CT reporting restricted strictly to licensed specialists, a pool growing by only ~40 physicians annually while scan volumes surge 13% scanners outside major metros operate far below capacity. 5C’s Centre of Excellence bridges this gap, unlocking an estimated national market potential of nearly 7,500 daily PET-CT studies. 

By utilising a distributed remote-reading framework, the CoE connects local scanners to a national panel of credentialed specialists, embedding standardised reporting criteria - such as PERCIST, Lugano, PSMA-RADS, and SSTR-RADS and integrating AI decision-support tools for lesion tracking, SUV quantification, and response assessment to assist physicians with speed and precision.

To lead the CoE, 5C Network has appointed Dr Ajit Shinto, a veteran with 20+ years of expertise who commissioned India's first digital PET-CT scanner and has reported over 30,000 studies. Having established nuclear medicine departments across Kovai Medical Center, Amala Institute, Apollo Proton Cancer Centre, and Bharath Hospital, Dr Shinto chairs WARMTH’s Rhenium Task Force, serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Research, and is Principal Investigator on the NOBLE and 68Ga Basket trials.