Field Of Nuclear Medicine Research Articles

Preliminary evaluation of dual-head Compton camera with Si/CZT material for breast cancer detection: Monte Carlo simulation study

Recently, the Compton camera imaging system has attracted attention in the field of nuclear medicine for breast cancer detection. Among the detector materials available for use with the Compton camera, Si and CZT can dramatically improve angular resolution and sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to design a Si/CZT Compton camera imaging system with Monte Carlo simulation using Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) and to evaluate its performance in breast cancer detection. The Compton camera was designed with a dual-head detection system using Si/CZT detector materials. Two breast cancer phantoms with masses in the medial region of the breast were used to evaluate the image reconstruction algorithm. The results confirmed the feasibility of an image reconstruction algorithm with our Compton camera imaging system using various evaluation factors, including the no-reference evaluation parameter. In conclusion, our results confirm the feasibility of a Compton camera imaging system for detection of breast cancer.

Pre-feasibility Study for Establishing Radioisotope and Radiopharmaceutical Production Facilities in Developing Countries.

A significant number of developing countries have no facilities to produce medical radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals. In this paper we show that access to life-saving radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals and the geographical distribution of corresponding infrastructure is highly unbalanced worldwide. We discuss the main issues which need to be addressed in order to establish the production of radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, which are especially important for developing countries as newcomers in the field. The data was gathered from several sources, including databases maintained by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Health Organization (WHO), and other international organizations; personal interactions with representatives in the nuclear medicine field from different regions of the world; and relevant literature. Developing radioisotope and radiopharmaceutical production program and installing corresponding infrastructure requires significant investments, both man-power and financial. Support already exists to help developing countries establish their medical radioisotope production installations from several organizations, such as IAEA. This work clearly shows that access to life-saving radioisotopes and the geographical distribution of corresponding infrastructure is highly unbalanced. Technology transfer is important as it not only immediately benefits patients, but also provides employment, economic activity and general prosperity in the region to where the technology transfer is implemented.

Are radiomics ready for clinical prime-time in PET/CT imaging?

Over the last few years the field of radiomics has been gaining ground in the field of nuclear medicine and in multimodality imaging. Within this context, numerous studies have exploited the potential interest of radiomics in clinical practice, within the diagnostic field as well as in prognostic and predictive modeling of patient response. Although these studies have showed some interesting results, there are also persistent conflicting conclusions. Most of these studies suffer from consistently low number of patients, lack of external dataset-based validation of most frequently single center determined models and non-standardized calculation of radiomics features. In the future, clear identification of the most pertinent applications of clinical utilization in combination with multi-center studies will allow more concrete clinical applications of radiomics to be identified. In addition, the recent interest of artificial intelligence which can completely change the current paradigm of radiomics use in clinical practice needs to be integrated within this framework. This paper highlights the main areas of radiomics applications considered up to date and provides an insight on the main issues and potential solutions in order to allow a potential future integration in clinical practice.

PET – advanced nuclear imaging technology for medicine

Abstract Positron emission tomography (PET) is currently the most advanced diagnostic imaging technology along with well-known techniques like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). Tremendous technical progress in engineering, imaging and radiopharmacy has provided the basis for impressive technological advances in the field of nuclear medicine over the past 50 years. Current nuclear medicine can be divided into 2 groups: the classic, which uses gamma-cameras for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging, and the more modern PET technique. The clinical PET technique requires: (i) patient administration of the radiopharmaceutical labelled with a positron emitter, (ii) recording of the gamma radiation emitted from the patient’s body with a dedicated PET/ CT scanner, (iii) processing and analysis of recorded images. This article presents the basics of PET technology and research, and describes new technical trends introduced by the leading manufacturers of PET/CT scanners.

Do You Want an Inspirational Career? Choose Nuclear Medicine.

All specialties of medicine require a continuous stream of skilled trainees in order to renew and grow. Over the 75 y of its existence, the field of nuclear medicine has rejuvenated itself repeatedly by welcoming waves of diverse trainees with adventuresome spirits who recognize the promise of the tracer principle for scientific discovery, clinical diagnosis, and targeted radionuclide therapy. Most recently, the rapid development of molecular imaging for precision medicine has made the field attractive to trainees seeking to combine expertise in nuclear medicine with high-level abilities in cross-sectional imaging. Also, substantial advances in therapeutic index achieved with modern targeted radionuclide therapy, combined with quantitative PET and SPECT imaging for dosimetry, have opened up exciting opportunities for radiotheranostics, ushering in a distinct group of trainees who want to combine nuclear medicine expertise with therapy including patient management. The training programs of the future will need to directly address the special needs of these diagnosticians and therapists. A subset of these groups will likely seek additional training in clinical or research fellowships to deepen their expertise in molecular imaging or targeted therapy. This enhanced training will increase the likelihood for an impactful career, whether in research, clinical care, or both. If we are truly going to attract the best and brightest students to nuclear medicine, leaders and mentors in the field must educate themselves in both aspects of nuclear medicine so we can fully capitalize on the opportunities to improve patient care with radionuclides.

A new positron-gamma discriminating phoswich detector based on wavelength discrimination (WLD)

Abstract The intra-operative positron probe, used in the field of nuclear medicine, has been developed to localize positron ( β +) emitted from positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals by selectively detecting β + particles in the presence of background gamma ( γ ) radiation. In this research, we propose a new method for real-time discrimination of radiation types in a mixed radiation field of positron ( β +) and gamma ( γ ) radiation, based on simple electronics and signal processing. Scintillators often have distinct emission wavelengths, and this method exploits the scintillator’s emission wavelength, as opposed to conventional pulse shape discrimination (PSD) approach. In this study, we used a two-layer phoswich detector consisting of europium-doped calcium fluoride (CaF2(Eu)) and Ce 3 + doped Lu3Al5O12 (Ce:LuAG), with dimensions of 3 mm × 3 mm × 0.5 mm and 3 mm × 3 mm × 10 mm, and emission wavelengths of 380–450 nm and 480–700 nm respectively. This phoswich detector was placed at the center of two adjacent optical filters (one short pass and one long pass filter), and each coupled to a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM). The optical filters are used for directing a specific scintillator photon wavelength to its corresponding SiPM for identification of the crystal of interaction. This proposed method allows us to realize a high sensitivity (true positive rate) positron probe, that can also double as a γ -probe, while simplifying readout electronic and signal processing. A Na-22 positron( β +) source and Cs-137 γ -source were used to validate the proposed approach experimentally. Results indicate the possibility of discriminating β + and γ -radiations in real time, with an excellent γ -rejection ratio exceeding 99.9 %.

Potential for Nuclear Medicine Therapy for Glioblastoma Treatment.

Glioblastoma is the most common malignant adult brain tumor and has a very poor patient prognosis. The mean survival for highly proliferative glioblastoma is only 10 to 14 months despite an aggressive current therapeutic approach known as Stupp’s protocol, which consists of debulking surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Despite several clinical trials using anti-angiogenic targeted therapies, glioblastoma medical care remains without major progress in the last decade. Recent progress in nuclear medicine, has been mainly driven by advances in biotechnologies such as radioimmunotherapy, radiopeptide therapy, and radionanoparticles, and these bring a new promising arsenal for glioblastoma therapy. For therapeutic purposes, nuclear medicine practitioners classically use β− particle emitters like 131I, 90Y, 186/188Re, or 177Lu. In the glioblastoma field, these radioisotopes are coupled with nanoparticles, monoclonal antibodies, or peptides. These radiopharmaceutical compounds have resulted in a stabilization and/or improvement of the neurological status with only transient side effects. In nuclear medicine, the glioblastoma-localized and targeted internal radiotherapy proof-of-concept stage has been successfully demonstrated using β− emitting isotopes. Similarly, α particle emitters like 213Bi, 211At, or 225Ac appear to be an innovative and interesting alternative. Indeed, α particles deliver a high proportion of their energy inside or at close proximity to the targeted cells (within a few micrometers from the emission point versus several millimeters for β− particles). This physical property is based on particle–matter interaction differences and results in α particles being highly efficient in killing tumor cells with minimal irradiation of healthy tissues and permits targeting of isolated tumor cells. The first clinical trials confirmed this idea and showed good therapeutic efficacy and less side effects, thus opening a new and promising era for glioblastoma medical care using α therapy. The objective of this literature review is focused on the developing field of nuclear medicine and aims to describe the various parameters such as targets, vectors, isotopes, or injection route (systemic and local) in relation to the clinical and preclinical results in glioblastoma pathology.

Next generation research applications for hybrid PET/MR and PET/CT imaging using deep learning.

Recently there have been significant advances in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) centered around imaging-based applications such as computer vision. In particular, the tremendous power of deep learning algorithms, primarily based on convolutional neural network strategies, is becoming increasingly apparent and has already had direct impact on the fields of radiology and nuclear medicine. While most early applications of computer vision to radiological imaging have focused on classification of images into disease categories, it is also possible to use these methods to improve image quality. Hybrid imaging approaches, such as PET/MRI and PET/CT, are ideal for applying these methods. This review will give an overview of the application of AI to improve image quality for PET imaging directly and how the additional use of anatomic information from CT and MRI can lead to further benefits. For PET, these performance gains can be used to shorten imaging scan times, with improvement in patient comfort and motion artifacts, or to push towards lower radiotracer doses. It also opens the possibilities for dual tracer studies, more frequent follow-up examinations, and new imaging indications. How to assess quality and the potential effects of bias in training and testing sets will be discussed. Harnessing the power of these new technologies to extract maximal information from hybrid PET imaging will open up new vistas for both research and clinical applications with associated benefits in patient care.

Standardisation of Rhenium-188 and determination of calibration factors for secondary standard and radionuclide calibrator

The use of Rhenium-188 for various therapeutic applications in the field of nuclear medicine has increased in recent years due to its favourable properties like decay scheme, cost effective availability and easy chemistry. Two independent measuring setups were used to standardise 188Re radioactive solution. The modus operandi of standardisation was 4πβ-γ coincidence technique where the beta detection was done by proportional counting and liquid scintillation counting and the gamma detection was done by using NaI(Tl) detectors. The secondary standard, high pressure ionisation chamber type Centronic IG12, 20A was calibrated with the standardised 188Re solution and the sensitivity coefficient (pA MBq−1) was determined. To enhance the accuracy of the commercial radionuclide calibrator and to ensure that patients receive optimum dose of these radiopharmaceuticals, calibration number of the Capintec CRC-15β radionuclide calibrator was also verified. This paper presents the standardisation of 188Re radioactive solution by primary methods and calibration of BARC secondary standard ionisation chamber system and a Capintec CRC-15β radionuclide calibrator.

The Impact of Open Access Status on Journal Indexes of Radiology Journals.

OBJECTIVE. The impact of open access (OA) journals is still understudied in the field of radiology. In this study, we compared the measures of impact (e.g., CiteScore, citation count, SCImago Journal Rank) between OA and subscription radiology journals. MATERIALS AND METHODS. We collected data on journals included in the Scopus Source List on November 1, 2018. We filtered the list for radiology journals for the years from 2011 to 2017. OA journals covered by Scopus (Elsevier) are indicated as OA if the journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals, the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources, or both. We also compared citation metrics between OA and subscription radiology journals. RESULTS. The 2017 Scopus report included 265 radiology journals. The percentage of OA journals increased from 14.7% in 2011 to 21.9% in 2017 (49% increase). The median scholarly output and the citation count were both significantly lower in OA radiology journals compared with subscription journals (p < 0.001 and p = 0.016, respectively). The proportion of documents that received at least one citation was higher in OA (50.2%) compared with subscription journals (44.4%), but the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION. This study found that the trend toward OA publishing in the fields of radiology and nuclear medicine has slowed in recent years, although the percent cited (i.e., the proportion of documents that receive at least one citation) is higher for OA journals. We believe the radiology field should be more supportive of OA publishing.

Characteristics, trend, and methodological quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in nuclear medicine: A bibliometric analysis of studies published between 2005 and 2016.

To evaluate the characteristics, trend, and quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in nuclear medicine.We performed a PubMed search to identify systematic reviews and meta-analyses published between 2005 and 2016 in the field of nuclear medicine. The following data were extracted: journal name, impact factor, type of study, topics with cancer type, imaging modalities, authors (number, country, affiliation, presence of nuclear medicine specialists and statisticians, discordance between the first and corresponding authors), funding, methodological quality, methods used for quality assessment, and statistical methods.We included 185 nuclear medicine articles. Meta-analyses (n = 164; 88.6%) were published about 7 times more frequently than systematic reviews. Oncology was the most commonly studied topic (n = 125, 67.6%). The first authors were most frequently located in China (n = 73; 39.5%). PET was the most commonly used modality (n = 150; 81.1%). Both the number of authors and the ratio of discordance between the first and corresponding authors tended to progressively increase over time.The mean AMSTAR score increased over time (5.77 in 2005-2008, 6.71 in 2009-2012, and 7.44 in 2013-2016). The proportion of articles with quality assessment increased significantly (20/26 in 2005-2008, 54/65 in 2009-2012, and 79/94 in 2013-2016). The most commonly used assessment tool was quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (n = 85; 54.9%).The number and quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in nuclear medicine have significantly increased over the review period; however, the quality of these articles varies. Efforts to overcome specific weaknesses of the methodologies can provide opportunities for quality improvement.

An Introduction to Newer PET Diagnostic Agents and Related Therapeutic Radiopharmaceuticals

With new radiopharmaceuticals constantly in development, the field of nuclear medicine is ever evolving. This continuing education article reviews some of the newer, less frequently used radiopharmaceuticals for PET diagnostic imaging and related therapeutic protocols. The radiopharmaceuticals discussed include U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved tracers as well as tracers that are in clinical trials and have yet to obtain Food and Drug Administration approval. This article contains straightforward information on each tracer discussed, including disease process imaged or treated, half-life, energy, primary uses, basic protocols, distribution, and side effects. Although not all tracers may be available in rural locations, this information can be helpful in determining future patient-care offerings.

Authentic Leadership Theory and Practical Applications in Nuclear Medicine.

As the field of nuclear medicine continues to evolve, a need for new leaders will emerge and leadership development will become critical. "Authentic leadership" is an emerging leadership style rooted in humanism that can be used in conjunction with other leadership styles. Authentic leadership has positive implications for health-care settings, including improved patient care, job satisfaction, motivation, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. This article reviews the philosophic foundations of authentic leadership theory and key characteristics of an authentic leader in the context of nuclear medicine.

О подготовке кадров для ядерной медицины

Purpose: Due to the necessity of improving the education of medical workers it is vital to conduct a review of the current state of training for work associated with the use of high-tech equipment and the use of radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine.&#x0D; Results: To ensure the availability of modern, high-quality medical care, oriented to world standards, it should be considered that the necessary conditions are based not only on the development of medical science and technology, material and technical equipment, but also on the provision of highly qualified personnel with a certain set of competencies.&#x0D; Currently, the training and professional development of personnel for this area is carried out at all levels of vocational education: secondary and higher in accordance with the Lists of specialties and areas of vocational education. At the same time, the issues of developing and approving relevant professional standards and Federal state educational standards (FSES) for the needs of nuclear medicine remain unsolved, which in turn is one of the factors that reduce the demand for specialists in this field in the labor market.&#x0D; At the same time, the issues of developing and approving relevant professional standards and FSES for the needs of nuclear medicine remain unsolved, which in turn is one of the factors that reduce the demand for specialists in this field on the labor market.&#x0D; The personnel crisis is overcome due to the implementation of additional professional programs and practical training at the bases of leading scientific, clinical and educational institutions that are leaders in the field of nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceuticals.&#x0D; Conclusion: In order to address the shortage of personnel for such a booming industry, a clear coordinated plan is needed, which would include systematic measures to train personnel both at the undergraduate level and to improve already prepared specialists. In addition, it is necessary to prepare a pool of highly qualified faculty for training specialists of a new formation. It is necessary to create federal educational standards taking into account that the current state of medical science and on the basis of professional standards. Work in this direction can be successful only if all stakeholders are actively involved: educational organizations, the professional community and government structures.&#x0D; At the same time, it is an obvious fact that, before the adoption of professional standards and the FSES, the available experience of leading scientific and educational organizations in the training of specialists should be adopted and they should receive support and development.

Interview with Prof. Hiroshi Fukuda: the 50-year history of boron neutron capture therapy

The 18 th International Congress on Neutron Capture Therapy (ICNCT) was successfully held in Taipei, Taiwan from October 28 to November 2. Researchers came from different countries, such as Japan, USA, Italy, Argentina, Germany, Finland, etc. to attend this grand meeting. The gathering of researchers in the fields of radiology, chemistry, physics, nuclear medicine and pathology has enriched and stimulated discussion during the meeting.

Novel Structured Reporting Systems for Theranostic Radiotracers.

Standardized reporting is more and more routinely implemented in clinical practice, and such structured reports have a major impact on a large variety of medical fields, such as laboratory medicine, pathology, and, recently, radiology. Notably, the field of nuclear medicine is constantly evolving as novel radiotracers for numerous clinical applications are developed. Thus, framework systems for standardized reporting in this field may increase clinical acceptance of new radiotracers, allow for inter- and intracenter comparisons for quality assurance, and be used in global multicenter studies to ensure comparable results and enable efficient data abstraction. In the last couple of years, several standardized framework systems for PET radiotracers with potential theranostic applications have been proposed. These include systems for prostate-specific membrane antigen-targeted PET agents to diagnose and treat prostate cancer, and systems for somatostatin receptor-targeted PET agents to diagnose and treat neuroendocrine neoplasia. In the present review, the framework systems for these 2 types of cancer will be briefly introduced, followed by an overview of their advantages and limitations. In addition, potential applications will be defined, approaches to validate such concepts will be proposed, and future perspectives will be discussed.

Report in 2017 April ～ 2018 March

Women physicians, scientists and nurses are addressing many problems encountered in the practice of their chosen fields. We carried out a survey of the women working in the nuclear medicine field. Two hundred and six professionals answered this questionnaire. The findings of our survey were that we have many female bosses (experts), a low number of sexual harassment issues and enough parental leave. Many members work very hard to practice in this field, but they do not have enough support from their hospitals or research centers, to join medical conferences. And almost a quarter of those surveyed thought it is hard to improve their careers after taking parental leave. A change of perception in how their male colleagues and counterparts regard women in the field of nuclear medicine is required. This change, along with women having a clear and realistic career plan are fundamental answers to the issues faced by women in nuclear medicine.

The Search for an Alternative to [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TATE in Neuroendocrine Tumor Theranostics: Current State of 18F-labeled Somatostatin Analog Development.

The trend to inform personalized molecular radiotherapy with molecular imaging diagnostics, a concept referred to as theranostics, has transformed the field of nuclear medicine in recent years. The development of theranostic pairs comprising somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-targeting nuclear imaging probes and therapeutic agents for the treatment of patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) has been a driving force behind this development. With the Neuroendocrine Tumor Therapy (NETTER-1) phase 3 trial reporting encouraging results in the treatment of well-differentiated, metastatic midgut NETs, peptide radioligand therapy (RLT) with the 177Lu-labeled somatostatin analog (SSA) [177Lu]Lu-DOTA-TATE is now anticipated to become the standard of care. On the diagnostics side, the field is currently dominated by 68Ga-labeled SSAs for the molecular imaging of NETs with positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT). PET/CT imaging with SSAs such as [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TATE, [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC, and [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-NOC allows for NET staging with high accuracy and is used to qualify patients for RLT. Driven by the demand for PET/CT imaging of NETs, a commercial kit for the production of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TATE (NETSPOT) was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The synthesis of 68Ga-labeled SSAs from a 68Ge/68Ga-generator is straightforward and allows for a decentralized production, but there are economic and logistic difficulties associated with these approaches that warrant the search for a viable, generator-independent alternative. The clinical introduction of an 18F-labeled SSTR-imaging probe can help mitigate the shortcomings of the generator-based synthesis approach, but despite extensive research efforts, none of the proposed 18F-labeled SSAs has been translated past prospective first-in-humans studies so far. Here, we review the current state of probe-development from a translational viewpoint and make a case for a clinically viable, 18F-labeled alternative to the current standard [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-TATE.

Worldwide research productivity in nuclear medicine literature.

This study aimed to assess the quantity and quality of papers published in subspecialty nuclear medicine journals and provide an overview of worldwide research activity carried out in the field of nuclear medicine. Papers published in subspecialty nuclear medicine journals between 2008 and 2017 were retrieved from the Web of Science. The number of papers and citations were used to evaluate the quantity and quality of the articles. The correlation between the research productivity of different countries and their population size and gross domestic product (GDP) were analyzed. There were 12,861 articles published in these journals between 2008 and 2017. A rapidly increasing trend was observed in the number of articles published per year (p < 0.001). The United States published the largest proportion of papers (23.22 %) followed by Germany (9.94 %), Japan (9.46 %), Italy (6.53 %), and China (6.36 %). The United States had the highest number of total citations. The number of articles from different countries had a significant correlation with their population size and GDP (p < 0.01). Switzerland had the highest mean citations (23.66) followed by the Netherlands (23.54), and Germany (22.77). However, the Netherlands was first (42.43) followed by Denmark (32.89) and Switzerland (31.79) when adjustments for population size were made. When adjustments for GDP were made, the Netherlands was again the leader (82.91) followed by Denmark (69.49) and Greece (61.77). There has been a significant increase in nuclear medicine research over the last decade. The United States is the leader of worldwide research productivity. However, when population and GDP are taken into consideration, certain smaller countries in Europe exhibit performed better. ZIEL:: Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Quantität und Qualität von Publikationen, die in Fachzeitschriften für Nuklearmedizin veröffentlicht wurden, zu bewerten und einen Überblick über die weltweiten Forschungsaktivitäten auf dem Gebiet der Nuklearmedizin zu geben. In den Fachzeitschriften für Nuklearmedizin zwischen 2008 und 2017 erschienene Artikel wurden aus dem Web of Science abgerufen. Die Anzahl der Artikel und Zitate wurde verwendet, um die Menge und Qualität der Artikel zu bewerten. Die Korrelation zwischen der Forschungsproduktivität verschiedener Länder und ihrer Bevölkerungsgröße sowie dem Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP) wurde analysiert. Zwischen 2008 und 2017 wurden 12861 Artikel in diesen Zeitschriften veröffentlicht. Die Anzahl der jährlich veröffentlichten Artikel zeigte einen rasch ansteigenden Trend (p < 0,001). Die Vereinigten Staaten veröffentlichten den größten Anteil der Veröffentlichungen (23,22 %), gefolgt von Deutschland (9,94 %), Japan (9,46 %), Italien (6,53 %) und China (6,36 %). Die Vereinigten Staaten hatten die höchste Gesamtzahl von Zitaten. Die Anzahl der Artikel aus verschiedenen Ländern korrelierte signifikant mit ihrer Bevölkerungsgröße und dem BIP (p < 0,01). Die Schweiz hatte den höchsten Mittelwert für Zitierungen (23,66), gefolgt von den Niederlanden (23,54) und Deutschland (22,77). Angepasst auf die Bevölkerungszahl aber kamen zuerst die Niederlande (42,43), gefolgt von Dänemark (32,89) und der Schweiz (31,79). Nach Anpassungen für das BIP, waren die Niederlande erneut führend (82,91), gefolgt von Dänemark (69,49) und Griechenland (61,77). Die nuklearmedizinische Forschung hat in den vergangenen zehn Jahren erheblich zugenommen. Die Vereinigten Staaten sind der Führer der weltweiten Forschungsproduktivität. Wenn jedoch Bevölkerung und BIP berücksichtigt werden, schneiden bestimmte kleinere Länder in Europa besser ab.

Interview with Prof. Akira Matsumura: the accelerator-based clinical trial of BNCT for melanoma will be started in 2019

The 18th International Congress on Neutron Capture Therapy (ICNCT) was successfully held in Taipei, Taiwan from October 28 to November 2. Researchers came from different countries, such as Japan, USA, Italy, Argentina, Germany, Finland, etc. to attend this grand meeting. The gathering of researchers in the fields of radiology, chemistry, physics, nuclear medicine and pathology has enriched and stimulated discussion during the meeting. AME editorial team had the honor to interview Prof. Akira Matsumura from the University of Tsukuba. Prof. Matsumura gave a speech on “Current status of i-BNCT project at Tsukuba & Tokai”. Through his speech, we learned that his team is already performing preclinical trail for malignant melanoma and will conduct phase I clinical trial in the coming year.