Abstract
The theranostics concept using the same target for both imaging and therapy dates back to the middle of the last century, when radioactive iodine was first used to treat thyroid diseases. Since then, radioiodine has become broadly established clinically for diagnostic imaging and therapy of benign and malignant thyroid disease, worldwide. However, only since the approval of SSTR2-targeting theranostics following the NETTER-1 trial in neuroendocrine tumours, and the positive outcome of the VISION trial has theranostics gained substantial attention beyond nuclear medicine. The roll-out of radioligand therapy for treating a high-incidence tumour such as prostate cancer requires the expansion of existing, and the establishment of new theranostics centres. Despite wide global variation in the regulatory, financial and medical landscapes, this guide attempts to provide valuable information to enable interested stakeholders to safely initiate and operate theranostic centres. This enabling guide does not intend to answer all possible questions, but rather to serve as an overarching framework for multiple, more detailed future initiatives. It recognizes that there are regional differences in the specifics of regulation of radiation safety, but common elements of best practice valid globally.
Footnotes
This article was originally published in "Herrmann K, Giovanella L, Santos A, Gear J, et al. Joint EANM, SNMMI and IAEA enabling guide: how to set up a theranostics centre. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2022 Apr 11. doi: 10.1007/s00259-022-05785-x" under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as appropriate credit is provided to the original author(s) and source, a link is provided to the Creative Commons licence, and indication of changes is provided. This version was submitted to The Journal of Nuclear Medicine by the authors. Any changes between this version and the originally published version should be limited to editing, formatting, and typographical discrepancies.
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