Dear colleagues,

The EFOMP hereby announces a new Special Interest Group (SIG) entitled “Radionuclide Dosimetry”. The SIG will operate under the Scientific Committee and is established as a permanent structure.

The rationale of the SIG: Therapeutic applications in nuclear medicine are developing rapidly. They use a growing range of vectors (simple vector molecules, peptides, antibodies), medical devices (radiolabelled microspheres) and radioactive isotopes (beta, but also alpha or Auger). Due to this variety, the characterisation of the irradiation delivered to the patient is at the same time stimulating and challenging. Nevertheless, treatment planning and verification in nuclear medicine therapy, seldom performed in the past in radioiodine therapy for benign or malignant thyroid disease, is nowadays requested (implementation in national law of the Basic Safety Standard Council Directive EU 2013/59). Moreover, reliable absorbed dose calculations are now available thanks to technological and scientific developments of the last decades.

The role of the medical physics expert (MPE) in nuclear medicine dosimetry is presented in EFOMP Policy Statement 16. However, the role of patient-specific dosimetry in therapeutic nuclear medicine is still, astonishingly, a matter of discussion, despite regulations. An increasing number of patients will benefit from treatment with radiotherapeutics, since therapeutic agents recently developed or in early phase trials are able to treat more common cancers, including liver colorectal metastases or prostate cancer. However, the availability of physicists able to implement clinical dosimetry is severely limited. Furthermore, the important shortage in medical physics resources within the European Union is more pronounced in nuclear medicine dosimetry. There is a need for networking, education, research and professional exchanges in radionuclide dosimetry. The objective of the SIG is to establish a network of medical physicists working in radionuclide dosimetry.

The call for members is opened from 8th February 2021. The kick-off meeting will be held on 8th March 2021. 

Documents attached
1. Announcement
2. Proposal for a new SIG (+Annex 1 List of individuals interested in founding an EFOMP Special Interest Group on nuclear medicine dosimetry)
3. SIG guidelines
4. Application form
 
Kind Regards

Efi Koutsouveli
Secretary General
European Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics
www.efomp.org