Home › DNB Books › Nuclear Medicine

DNB Broad Specialty · Book Guide

Books for DNB Nuclear Medicine.

The official NBE curriculum list, reproduced exactly, plus the editions residents actually read in 2026 — with recommended journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you'll need for your thesis and practical.

43Titles in the NBE list
10Current-edition picks
27Journals listed
3 yearsReading plan included
Official list

Books NBE lists in the DNB Nuclear Medicine curriculum

These 43 titles are reproduced as they appear in the National Board of Examinations curriculum document for Nuclear Medicine — spelling and abbreviations included. Treat this as the syllabus anchor.

  1. Conventional Nuclear medicine in Pediatrics (A Clinical based atlas) by Garganese, Maria Carmen, D'Errico, Giovanni Francesco Livio (Eds.)
  2. Principles and Practice of Nuclear Medicine by Paul J.Early
  3. Essentials of Nuclear Medicine Imaging by Fred A.Mettler
  4. Reconstruction Tomography in Diagnostic Radiology and nuclear medicine by Michel M.Ter-Pogossian
  5. Internal Radiation Dosimentry:1994 Health physics summer school by Otto G.Raabe
  6. Mird Primer for Absorbed Dose Calculations by Robert Loevinger
  7. Mird: Radionuclide Data and Decay schemes by Keith F. Eckerman
  8. Mird Cellular S.Values by S.Murty Goddu
  9. PET: Molecular Imaging and its biological applications by Michael E.Phelps
  10. Positron Emission Tomography: Basic Sciences by Dale L.Bailey
  11. Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography by Barbara Y.Croft
  12. Monte Carlo Calculations in Nuclear Medicine: Applications in Diagnostic Imaging by Ljungberg
  13. Therapeutic Applications of Monte Carlo Calculations in Nuclear Medicine by Habib Zaidi
  14. Dictionary And Handbook of Nuclear Medicine And Clinical Imaging by Mario P. Iturralde
  15. Handbook of Nuclear medicine by Mark T.Madsen
  16. Nuclear Medicine Board Review: Questions and answers for self assessment by Richard Goldfarb
  17. Practical Nuclear Medicine by Edwin L.Palmer
  18. Handbook of Nuclear Medicine: handbooks in radiology series by Frederick L.Datz
  19. Nuclear Medicine: Case Review series by Harvey A.Ziessman
  20. Nuclear Medicine: The Requisites by Harvey A.Ziessman
  21. Nuclear medicine Imaging: A Teaching File by M.Reza Habibian
  22. Nuclear Radiology (Fifth series) test and syllabus by Barry A.Siegel
  23. Clinical Atlas of Pet: With Imaging Correlation by Michael S.Kipper
  24. Atlas of Clinical Nuclear medicine by Ignac Fogelman
  25. Nuclear Medicine: A Teaching file by Frederick L.Datz
  26. Radiopharmaceuticals for Therapy 2016 by FF.Knapp, Ashutosh Dash
  27. Nuclear Medicine in Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment by Peter Josef ELL, Sam Gambhir
  28. PET Imaging of Thoracic Disease, an issue of PET Clinics by Drew A.Torigian, Abass Alavi
  29. Radiation Safety in Nuclear Medicine by Max H.Lombardi
  30. Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine: A Physics Perspective by Dr.David Hamilton
  31. Frontiers in Nuclear Medicine by Cuno Winkler
  32. Clinical Nuclear Medicine: Edited by Hans-Jurgen Biersack, Leonard M.Freeman
  33. Essentials of Nuclear Medicine by M.V Merrick
  34. Basic sciences of Nuclear Medicine by Magdy M.Khalil
  35. Radiation physics for nuclear medicine by Marie Claire Cantone, Christroph Hoeschen
  36. Progress in Radiopharmacy by P.H.Cox, edited by Steven J.Mather, C.B Sampson, C.R Lazarus
  37. Nuclear Medicine in Tropical and Infectious Diseases by Francisco Jose H.N Braga
  38. Radioguided Surgery edited by Giuliano Mariani, Armando E.Giuliano, H.William Strauss
  39. Exercises in Clinical Nuclear medicine by Gary Cook, Jane Dutton
  40. Herbal Radiomodulators: Applications in medicine, Homeland defence and space edited by R.Arora
  41. Radiotherapy and Brachytherapy by Yves Lemoigne, Alessandra Caner
  42. Safety and Efficacy of Radiopharmaceuticals edited by Knud Kristensen, Elisabeth Norbygaard
  43. Radioprotectors: Chemical, Biological, and clinical Perspective by Edward A.Bump, Kamal Malaker
Read this before you buy. NBE curriculum documents are revised infrequently, so several entries name editions that are now years out of date, and a few titles are out of print. Use this list to know what NBE expects you to have read, then buy the current edition listed in the next section.

Source: NBE DNB Nuclear Medicine curriculum

What residents actually use

Current editions, and what each one is for

The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read cover to cover, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.

  1. Nuclear Medicine: The RequisitesZiessman, O'Malley, Thrall · 5th edition · core textbookThe default first-read and revision text for Indian residents; concise, exam-oriented and image-rich.
  2. Essentials of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular ImagingMettler & Guiberteau · 7th edition · core textbookRead in parallel with Requisites for protocols, normal variants and practical reporting points.
  3. Physics in Nuclear MedicineCherry, Sorenson, Phelps · 4th edition · physics referenceStandard source for instrumentation, detectors, SPECT/PET physics and reconstruction - heavily tested in theory papers.
  4. Fundamentals of Nuclear PharmacyGopal B. Saha · 8th edition · radiopharmacy textGo-to text for radiopharmaceutical production, kit formulation, quality control and hot-lab practice.
  5. Clinical Nuclear MedicineBiersack & Freeman · 2nd edition · clinical referenceUsed for organ-system clinical detail and indications beyond the Requisites level.
  6. Atlas of Clinical Nuclear MedicineFogelman, Gnanasegaran, van der Wall · 3rd edition · image atlasCase-based image review for reporting practice and viva spotters.
  7. Nuclear Medicine Case Review SeriesZiessman · case practiceRapid case-and-answer drilling in the final year before the practical exam.
  8. AERB Safety Codes and Guidelines for Nuclear Medicine FacilitiesAtomic Energy Regulatory Board, India · current edition · regulatory documentEssential in India for radiation protection, RSO duties, waste disposal and therapy ward rules - regularly asked in viva.
  9. EANM / SNMMI Procedure Guidelines and Appropriate Use CriteriaEANM / SNMMI · current online edition · practice guidelinesReference for study protocols, dosing and reporting standards; also cited in thesis and journal clubs.
  10. Positron Emission Tomography: Basic SciencesBailey, Townsend, Valk, Maisey · PET referenceCovers FDG and non-FDG PET oncology, cardiac and neuro applications now central to Indian practice.
Journals

Journals NBE lists for Nuclear Medicine

Journal club and the “recent advances” parts of the theory paper come from here. You do not need to read all of them — pick the two Indian journals and one international one and follow them properly.

Medical Physics (The International Journal of Medical Physics)Physics in medicine and biologyApplied Radiation and IsotopesNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics ResearchThe Journal of Applied Clinical Medical PhysicsPhysica MedicaThe British Journal of RadiologyJournal of Medical PhysicsRadiological Physics and TechnologyRadiation Physics and ChemistryJournal of Radiation ResearchRadiation ResearchRadiation MeasurementsMedical Image AnalysisJournal of Medical Imaging and Radiation OncologyJournal of Medical Imaging and Radiation SciencesActa OncologicaFrontiers in OncologyEuropean Journal of CancerJournal of Cancer Research and TherapeuticsTechnology in Cancer Research and TreatmentRadiotherapy and OncologyRadiation OncologyClinical OncologyMedical DosimetryMedical & Biological Engineering & ComputingInternational Journal of Radiation Research (IJRR)
Reading plan

What to read, and when

Three years is less time than it sounds. The order below is what works for most DNB Nuclear Medicine residents — broad and readable first, reference-level later, revision and drilling last.

Year 1

Build the base

Build the physics, instrumentation and radiopharmacy base with Cherry and Saha while learning hot-lab and QC routines hands-on; read Requisites once end-to-end and register the thesis.

Year 2

Go deep, collect thesis data

Shift to clinical reporting - Mettler and Biersack organ-system-wise, daily supervised reporting, EANM/SNMMI guidelines for each protocol, PET/CT rotation, and thesis data collection.

Year 3

Revise, drill, submit

Revise Requisites and physics repeatedly, drill Ziessman Case Review and Fogelman's Atlas for spotters, master AERB regulations and therapy protocols, finish the thesis, and practise past NBE theory questions.

Thesis

References for your thesis

Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.

  • AERB Safety Code for Nuclear Medicine Facilities and AERB licensing requirements
  • ICMR National Ethical Guidelines (2017)
  • EANM and SNMMI procedure guidelines for the specific tracer under study
  • PERCIST / RECIST 1.1 and Deauville criteria for response assessment
  • ICRP publications on internal dosimetry and MIRD schema documents
  • Journal of Nuclear Medicine, EJNMMI, Clinical Nuclear Medicine, Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine
  • STARD statement for diagnostic accuracy studies
Practical & viva

What the practical actually tests

Books and material specifically useful for the clinical, spotter and viva stations.

  • Gamma camera and PET/CT instrumentation - quality control tests and artefact recognition
  • Hot lab: Mo-99/Tc-99m generator elution, kit preparation, radiochemical purity by TLC/HPLC
  • Radiation protection: survey meters, dose calibrator, contamination monitoring, therapy ward discharge criteria (AERB)
  • Image spotters: bone scan, DTPA/DMSA/EC renogram, MIBG, thyroid and parathyroid, MPI, FDG PET/CT
  • Therapy protocols: I-131 for thyrotoxicosis and thyroid cancer, Lu-177 PSMA/DOTATATE, Sm-153/Ra-223
  • Ziessman Case Review Series and Fogelman's Atlas for rapid case discussion
  • Calculations: dose, half-life, decay, dose calibrator QC and MIRD-based estimates
Frequently asked

DNB Nuclear Medicine books — questions

Which books should I read for DNB Nuclear Medicine?

The titles on this page are the ones residents and departments actually use, each with the edition in circulation now. Start with the first one listed and add the references as your reading deepens.

Which single book should I start with in first year of DNB Nuclear Medicine?

Nuclear Medicine: The Requisites by Ziessman, O'Malley, Thrall is the usual anchor. The default first-read and revision text for Indian residents; concise, exam-oriented and image-rich.

Are the editions listed here current?

Yes — we list the edition in circulation now for each title. Editions move quickly, so confirm the current one before you buy or print.

Do I need to buy every book on the list?

No. Most residents own three or four and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.

Can you print these books for me?

We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.

How much does it cost to print a set of notes?

Black and white is 50 paise per page, colour is Rs 1 per page, and binding is Rs 40 per copy. A 400-page mixed set with binding usually works out around Rs 300 plus delivery.

Printing your DNB Nuclear Medicine reading?

Send the PDF on WhatsApp — colour Rs 1/page, B&W 50p/page, binding Rs 40. Printed, bound and delivered anywhere in India.

Other specialties

Book guides for all 30 DNB broad specialties