Speaker
Description
The concept of “theragnostics” in nuclear medicine, ideally, involves the diagnosis and treatment of a
patient using radioisotopes of the same element, to ensure what you image is what you treat. The
concept is currently being followed by means of diagnosis with 68Ga, followed by radionuclide therapy
using 177Lu.
Researchers are pursuing the idea utilizing the same element, but different radioisotopes thereof for
diagnosis and therapy. Over the last decade, much research has been performed at Paul Scherrer
Institute with radioisotopes of scandium and terbium, respectively. The radiotheragnostics principle
was demonstrated with the use of cyclotron-produced 44Sc (as well as 43Sc) for tumour diagnosis, while
47Sc was produced for preclinical therapy studies. Four radioisotopes of terbium are deemed
interesting for nuclear medical purposes: 152Tb and 155Tb can be used for diagnostic purposes via
positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT),
respectively, while 149Tb and 161Tb are interesting therapeutic radionuclides due to their α- and βemission, respectively.
The radionuclides in question are in various stages of development, with some in its early stages due
to lack of facilities capable of producing them, while terbium-161 is being prepared for clinical trials.
An outlook will include possibilities of producing novel radionuclides with new facilities/installations
in future.
