Managing drug interactions in radiopharmacy. Example of ioflupane [I¹²³]

In nuclear medicine, the existence of drug interactions between the radiopharmaceutical administered and the patient's treatment may result in erroneous or even uninterpretable images, leading to inappropriate patient management. After reviewing the literature on the subject, the case of ioflupane [I¹²³] was chosen to illustrate this point. Ioflupane is a radiopharmaceutical used in brain scintigraphy, whose biodistribution can be altered by certain treatments or psychoactive substances. To complement this example, a national survey was carried out among French radiopharmacies concerning the detection and management of interactions with radiopharmaceuticals in their respective centers. The aim of this work was to ensure that facilities wishing to carry out this activity had the necessary tools at their disposal. The results of the survey show that a majority of radiopharmacists are aware of and interested in detecting drug interactions between the radiopharmaceuticals prescribed and the patient's treatment. However, the lack of recommendations and tools available to them to carry out this activity seems to be a hindrance to its proper implementation. As clinical radiopharmacy is a fast-developing discipline, it seems essential to provide professionals with the tools they need to carry it out properly, with the aim of making the use of radiopharmaceuticals safer, more relevant and more efficient