Radiotheranostics - A Primer for Medical Physicists: Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Clinical Applications

This book covers scientific, clinical, and educational aspects of radiotheranostics in cancer control. Setting the framework, the first volume defines radiotheranostics and describes the history of radionuclide therapy and theranostics, and the biology of cancer. It examines the clinical applications of unconjugated radionuclides, such as ¹³¹I and ²²³Ra, and of radionuclide-conjugated cancer-specific vectors: peptides, small molecules, antibodies, and nanoparticles; introduces clinical trials and drug development; and reviews epidemiological studies and the adverse effects of radionuclide therapy – both radiation injuries and chemical toxicity. It presents the chemistry and physics of radionuclide production, discusses radioactivity measurements and traceability, and addresses important instrumentation aspects: calibration, quantitative imaging, and quality control. Volume I concludes with guidance on the education, training, and competence of a radiotheranostic multidisciplinary team and summarizes the principal physics characteristics of theranostics today – including many to be expanded in the second volume – while offering a glimpse into tomorrow. This volume provides the foundations for the more advanced second volume, which explores dosimetric and radiation safety, aiming to empower medical physicists and demonstrate to the cancer community how to improve cancer control and yield increased patient survival times.It will be a valuable reference for medical and health physicists with basic knowledge of nuclear medicine.

Key Features

• Provides a comprehensive introduction to the topic, presenting readers with thorough treatment in a cohesive two-volume book
• Presents a rigorous approach while remaining accessible to students and trainees in the ?eld
• Contains consistent and extensive references to allow readers to delve deeper into the subject

Cari (Caridad) Borrás is a certified medical physicist in Washington, DC, USA, where she works as an international consultant and has an adjunct faculty position at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. She obtained a Doctor of Science (Physics) degree from the University of Barcelona, Spain, having done a thesis research project on the dosimetry and embryological effects of Astatine- 211 at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, USA, as a Fulbright scholar. She has lectured in more than 300 seminars/courses/congresses, many organized by her; authored/contributed around 100 articles and six book chapters and edited two books. She is a Fellow of ACR, AAPM, IOMP, HPS, and IUPESM, and has received awards/recognitions from SEFM, AAPM, IOMP, ALFIM, ACCE, ACR, and ABR.

Michael G. Stabin is a Certified Health Physicist, President of the Radiation Dose Assessment Resource, Inc., living in Kennewick, WA, USA, where he worked for NV5 – Technical Engineering & Consulting Solutions and Hanford Mission Integration Solutions. He was an Associate Professor in the Radiology and Radiological Sciences Department at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, TN, and a Scientist at the Radiation Internal Dose Information Center of Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. He received a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering (Health Physics emphasis) from the University of Tennessee, is a member of the HPS and the SNMMI, and is also a Fulbright scholar. He has over 225 publications in the open literature, most on internal dosimetry for nuclear medicine applications, including complete textbooks on health physics and internal dose assessment.