2023-08-23 17:50:00
“Nuclear medicine is the protagonist of a new approach to the treatment of tumors, thanks to the evolution of research that has taken it from a diagnostic tool to a therapeutic solution. The fight against tumors represents an absolute health priority: during 2022 in In Italy there were about 391,000 new cancer diagnoses, 14,000 more than in 2020. Precision nuclear medicine is today the new frontier of oncological innovation, offering treatment opportunities for neoplasms unfortunately still counted as big killers”. Thus Arturo Chiti , Director of Nuclear Medicine Irccs San Raffaele of Milan, consulted by ‘Alleati per la Salute’ (www.alleatiperlasalute.it ), the medical-scientific information portal created by Novartis, takes stock of the applications and developments of precision nuclear medicine in oncology field.
Today “we are experiencing an epochal and exciting transition in our profession – explains Chiti in the article – marked by the affirmation of the concept of theragnostics, i.e. the full integration between diagnosis and therapy: hand in hand the skills of the nuclear doctor are enriched, which acquires centrality in the patient care path and in the management of related processes. It is therefore necessary to invest in the training of young specialists who play a key role in the future of our healthcare system”.
“Nuclear medicine is an extremely varied discipline, we interface with specialists with different branches: this is very stimulating,” says Gaia Ninatti, first year graduate student at the University of Milan Bicocca, in training at San Raffaele. Furthermore, “it is a discipline in constant evolution – adds Cristiano Pini, a third year specialist – and which, thanks to the discovery of new receptors and radiopharmaceuticals, is experiencing an important revolution. If in the past it was mainly diagnostic, now it is also therapy with molecular targets that can be targeted by drugs able to identify them, but also to hit them with precision. Nuclear medicine is innovative because the concept of diagnosis and therapy go hand in hand, we can see with images what we will treat and we can treat what we see. The radiopharmaceutical used for diagnosis and treatment is the same, only the radioisotope changes – that is, the radioactive part – which can be used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
Today radioligands – reads the article – represent the new frontier of nuclear medicine because they involve the use of radiopharmaceuticals, which emit radiation for therapeutic purposes in a precise way, because thanks to a vector – called ligand or carrier – they recognize and bind only to diseased cells, and then hit them with radioactive particles, but without damaging healthy cells. The therapy is personalized: according to the rapid expiry of the medicine, the production is carried out a few days before the expected administration to the patient; it follows that the production process and transport are scrupulously planned on the basis of the day and time of the aforementioned administration, guaranteeing delivery to the patient’s bed within 72 hours of production. The efficacy of RLT translates into a very important benefit for patients who gain months/years of life, even in the advanced stages of some tumors which, to date, do not have effective treatments, or in those that have become resistant.
Radiopharmaceuticals with radioligand-based technologies are used in just over 30 centers in Italy. To date, a sufficient number to guarantee this type of treatment, but it may not be adequate to manage the growing need related to big killer tumors and, therefore, to a much wider public.
In order to guarantee equal and homogeneous access to this therapeutic innovation on the national territory and to the whole audience of potential patients, it is necessary – concludes the article – that there is an adequate number of specialists in nuclear medicine and that the infrastructure adapts and you modernize. Regions are called upon to define which centers in their own territory will be able to provide these therapies, provide them with the necessary equipment and specialized personnel, as well as involve them in oncological networks. A job that can make a difference in terms of health and quality of life for more and more people. The full article is available at: The full article is available at:
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