NucMed Boards Prep

ARRT(N) · EFFECTIVE 1 FEBRUARY 2027

ARRT(N) exam changes, February 2027

ARRT has approved new content specifications and new clinical competency requirements for nuclear medicine technology. They take effect on 1 February 2027. This page explains what changed, who it affects, and what is worth doing about it.

Source: ARRT, Updated Nuclear Medicine Technology Documents, published 1 April 2026. Always check ARRT's own documents before relying on any summary, including this one.

Does this affect you?

If you sit the exam	Which documents apply
On or before 31 January 2027	Current specifications
On or after 1 February 2027	New 2027 specifications

ARRT reviews each discipline roughly every five years, following a job analysis of what technologists actually do. This is that scheduled revision, not an emergency change. If your exam date is before February 2027, nothing here changes how you should study.

The part most people miss: eligibility, not just content

Most discussion of this change focuses on the exam content. The clinical competency requirements changed too, and those affect whether you are eligible to sit at all. If you are still completing your clinical requirements, read this section first.

• The minimum number of required procedures rose from 25 to 26.
• CPR certification is now BLS or ACLS certification.
• Pulse oximetry was added under vital signs in general patient care.
• Quality control gained CT scanner air calibration and QC phantom procedures.
• Therapy gained prostate procedures, such as Lu‑177 (Pluvicto).
• SPECT or SPECT/CT and Other Planar or Whole Body both gained hepatic artery perfusion studies (HAPS).
• PET or PET/CT lost bone, and gained tumour procedures for other cases such as neuroendocrine.
• Tumour lost adrenal and some other procedures such as Ga‑67 citrate. Adrenal and neuroendocrine procedures can now count under PET/CT Tumour, or under Other Planar or Whole Body, depending on how they were performed.

If you are mid‑programme, the procedure count and the BLS/ACLS change are the two worth raising with your clinical coordinator now rather than later.

What changed in the exam content

Patient care

• Medical equipment malfunctions
• Patient comfort and modesty
• Communicating critical findings to the health care team

Pharmacology

• Local effects, with infiltration given as the example
• Emergency medications

Safety

• Short‑term versus long‑term exposure, added to biological effects of radiation

Image production

• The informatics section was updated. ARRT's announcement does not say how, so compare the 2027 document against the current one if informatics is a weak area for you.

Procedures

• Sequestration and radiochromatography were removed from radionuclides and radiopharmaceuticals
• Neuroendocrine and adrenal imaging moved from the endocrine section to the tumour section
• PET/CT was removed from the bone section

Radiopharmaceuticals (Attachment A)

• Some less commonly used radiopharmaceuticals and pharmaceuticals were removed
• Several new radiopharmaceuticals were added

ARRT's announcement does not name the agents either way. Attachment A in the 2027 Content Specifications PDF is the only authoritative list, and it is worth reading in full if you are studying from older material.

What this means for how you study

The shape of the exam has not changed. It is the same discipline, the same broad categories, and ARRT has not announced a change to the total number of scored questions. What changed is emphasis at the edges.

Three practical implications:

• Older material is not wrong, but it is now incomplete. Nothing in the removals makes previously correct answers incorrect. The additions — infiltration, emergency medications, critical findings communication, equipment malfunctions — are topics a 2024 or 2025 study resource may simply not cover.
• Patient care and communication is quietly growing. Three of the additions sit in patient care and pharmacology. These are the areas candidates most often under‑study because they feel like common sense until a question asks for the specific correct action.
• If you studied sequestration or radiochromatography, you can stop. They are off the specification.

What is not yet public

Being straight about the limits of this summary:

• ARRT's announcement does not publish the number of scored questions per category for the 2027 specification.
• It does not name the radiopharmaceuticals added to or removed from Attachment A.
• It does not detail the informatics changes in image production.

For all three, the 2027 Content Specifications document itself is the authority. ARRT publishes it on its Examination Content Specifications page.

Common questions

Is the exam getting harder?

There is no basis for saying so. ARRT has not announced a change to the total scored questions or the passing standard. This is a scheduled content refresh, not a difficulty change.

I sit the exam in January 2027. Do I study the new material?

No. The current specifications apply through 31 January 2027. Study the current document.

I sit it in March 2027. What do I do differently?

Read the 2027 content specifications end to end, and pay particular attention to patient care, pharmacology and Attachment A. If your study resource predates April 2026, assume it does not cover the additions.

Does this affect the NMTCB exam?

No. ARRT(N) and the NMTCB (CNMT) exam are separate credentials from separate organisations with separate content outlines. This change is ARRT's only. Many technologists sit both, which is why it is easy to conflate them.

Does this affect my clinical requirements?

Possibly, and this is the part worth acting on. The minimum procedure count rose from 25 to 26, CPR became BLS or ACLS, and several procedure categories moved. If you are still completing requirements, raise it with your clinical coordinator.

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