Main challenges in radiation protection with emerging radionuclide therapies

The recent development of radionuclide therapy and radioligand therapy has raised a call for achieving the highest quality standards, for either radiopharmacy or radiation protection. Novel radionuclides are now being used, either under the form of in-house production radiopharmaceuticals or available from companies. Over the last 20 years, they include radiolabeled microspheres for selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT), the introduction of the first commercially available alpha emitter radiopharmaceutical, 223Ra, and the radiosynoviorthesis which is highly variable across Europe. More important is the development of radioligand therapy, often called theranostics. In this concept, a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical can determine the chance of success of a therapeutic one. Typically, diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals for positron emission tomography, are labeled with 18F or 68Ga, such as the PSMA ligands or somatostatin analogs, and the therapeutic radiopharmaceutical is labeled with 177Lu. This has revolutionized the world of Nuclear Medicine, but also all concepts that shall be applied to properly apply quality assurance and radiation protection in the field. This article will follow the example of 131I as the main used radionuclide for therapy during the last 80 years. Proposals can be general, and in parallel expert's articles will give specific guidance on issues with particular radionuclides, i.e., alpha emitters and 177Lu. This article will also give insight in the radiation protection issues related to the use of microspheres radiolabeled with either 90Y or 166Ho.