24.05.2017 | Editorial
The conflict between treatment optimization and registration of radiopharmaceuticals with fixed activity posology in oncological nuclear medicine therapy
Erschienen in: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | Ausgabe 11/2017
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The new European Council Directive 2013/59 (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32013L0059&from=EN), to be translated into national legislations before 6 February 2018, in article 56 (Optimisation) states: “For all medical exposure of patients for radiotherapeutic purposes, exposures of target volumes shall be individually planned and their delivery appropriately verified, taking into account that doses to non-target volumes and tissues shall be as low as reasonably achievable and consistent with the intended radiotherapeutic purpose of the exposure”. No doubt this statement holds for nuclear medicine therapy, since in article 4 of the same, directive definition 81 states that “radiotherapeutic” means pertaining to radiotherapy, including nuclear medicine for therapeutic purposes. The directive thus asks for dosimetry, as is routinely implemented in radiotherapy, using external beam or brachytherapy sources. However, in nuclear medicine therapy, absorbed dose planning is rarely performed. One of the main reasons is the amount of work needed for internal dosimetry that includes multiple whole-body counts or scintigraphy and sometimes blood samples over some days after administration. …Anzeige