Therapeutic uses of nuclear medicine pharmaceuticals

There are many radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine therapy. Some are called 'theranostics', which means the integration of a diagnostic test with a specific therapeutic intervention. The diagnostic test should identify patients, who will likely respond to a particular therapy, fail to respond to a given drug or eventually exhibit adverse events, while the therapeutic application seeks to treat a specific disease. This session will describe the applications of several radiopharmaceuticals, including the well established ¹³¹I NaI In the treatment of hyperthyroidism and thyroid therapy, the use of ⁹⁰Y microspheres in the treatment of hepatic cancers, and newer therapies, including several ¹⁷⁷Lu and ¹⁸⁸Re radiopharmaceuticals for a number of cancers and ²²³Ra chloride for bony metastases. Clinical successes will be discussed, but the focus will be on the radiation dosimetry aspects