Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, November 21, 2022
Developments in Radiopharmaceutical Therapy and the Need for Foundational Infrastructure in Support of Patient-Tailored Treatments
Stephen A. Graves, Ph.D., DABR
Assistant Professor of Radiology, Radiation Oncology, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa Health Care
The use of radiopharmaceutical therapy has rapidly expanded with the recent approvals of 177Lu-DOTATATE for neuroendocrine tumors and 177Lu-PSMA-617 for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. More than 300 ongoing clinical trials are exploring new agents, new treatment indications, and combination therapy approaches. It is likely that this modality will grow to account for a significant fraction of patients receiving radiation therapy. As such, foundational infrastructure is urgently needed to support the optimal use of these promising agents. Examples of areas with key deficiencies include clinical activity measurements that are traceable to national standards; rigorous quantitative SPECT/CT imaging techniques; the need for trial data demonstrating the benefit of dosimetry-guided personalized therapy; and a lack of trained medical physics workforce to support clinical programmatic growth. This talk will review and propose substantive advances in these areas.