Radionuclide Therapy

In contrast to diagnostic procedures in nuclear medicine, where gamma-emitters are almost exclusively employed, beta- and alpha-emitters are used for therapeutic procedures. Alpha and beta radiation is comprised of particles (in contrast to photons as in gamma radiation), which only have a very short range in the human body (alpha about 30 µm, beta up to 2-3 mm). Therefore, a very high and therapeutically effective radiation dose can be achieved in the diseased tissue while mostly sparing the surrounding healthy tissue.

Currently we offer the following radionuclide therapies on our ward:

• Radioiodine therapy with I-131 of benign thyroid diseases (autonomous “hot” nodules, Grave’s disease, nodular goiter)
• Radioiodine therapy with I-131 of malignant thyroid diseases (thyroid cancer)
• Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with Lu-177-DOTATATE of neuroendocrine tumours (NET)
• Selective internal Radiotherapy (SIRT, transarterial radioembolization) of liver cancer and liver metastases with Yttrium-90-labelled microspheres
• Lutetium-177-PSMA-therapy of metastasized, castration resistant prostate cancer
• Radium-223-dichloride therapy (Xofigo®) of prostate cancer bone metastases
• Radiosynovectomy of inflammatory joint diseases
• Radioimmunotherapy (Zevalin®) of lymphoma
• Radionuclide therapy with I-131-MIBG of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma