Chapter 5: Dosimetry Methods for Radiopharmaceuticals Check Access

Radiopharmaceutical therapy (RPT) is the application of radionuclides tagged with certain linker molecules and ligands to target specific cancer cells for their selective killing. The targeted nature of RPT has brought a paradigm shift to treatment approaches for various cancers. The systemic route of treatment and the harmful effects associated with the ionizing nature of radionuclides necessitate the estimation of absorbed dose per gram of tissue for a radiopharmaceutical and the science of this estimation is called radiation dosimetry. The standard RPT practice includes using an empirical dose of radiopharmaceutical for all patients for a particular cancer type. However, a standard mode of therapy cannot be equally beneficial for all patients, given the individual genetic variability of each patient. This need for precision medicine along with development of novel ligands and radionuclides with therapeutic potential has resulted in evolution of dosimetry methods, to make RPT even more efficient and safe.