The only other obstacle to the wider use of PET-CT is the difficulty and cost of producing and transporting the radiopharmaceuticals used for PET imaging, which are usually extremely short-lived (for instance, the half life of radioactive Fluorine-18 (18F) used to trace glucose metabolism (using fluorodeoxyglucose, FDG) is two hours only.
Nuclear Radiologist: Average Salary: $180,000. Nuclear radiology is a radiology field that uses radioactive material in imaging, diagnosis and treatment. PET scans, CT scans and gamma imaging are the most commonly used equipment in this field.
According to Medscape, male radiologists averaged $360,000 per year in 2012, while female radiologists earned an annual average of just $309,000. Radiologists in solo practices earned a relatively low average salary of $299,000, while those employed by group practices averaged $390,000.