Internal Dose Assessment of New 177Lu-Radiopharmaceuticals and Its Role in Radiation Protection of Patients

Since 2006, CNEA has been conducting studies on the production, labeling, quality control and NIH mice biodistribution of several radiopharmaceuticals based on 177Lu locally produced. In order to contribute to ensuring the radiation protection of patients, the Internal Dosimetry Laboratory of the ARN has been complementing the preclinical study performing a dose assessment. This assessment included: the activity biodistribution analysis in NIH mice, the estimation of the absorbed dose, the extrapolation of the results to humans, the identification of healthy organs with high risk and the estimation of the maximum activity that can be administered to a patient without exceeding the threshold of radiotoxicity in healthy organs. It can be observed that internal dosimetry assessment has an important role for ensuring radiation protection in patients, since treatment parameters can be optimized out of the estimation of the maximum activity to be administered to the patient.