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.
They reported an average salary of $69,960 per year, and half reported annual earnings of between $58,600 and $81,970 to the bureau. In 2010, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists conducted a survey that found the average pay of nuclear medicine technologists was $70,822.