Description
The Department of Nuclear Medicine at the IRCCS in Candiolo is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of oncological diseases using radiopharmaceuticals: substances that emit ionizing radiation and allow fundamental information about disease behavior to be obtained.
This discipline represents an important piece in the care of the cancer patient, because it allows observation of the disease “in action,” thus offering a functional, not just a structural, view of the tumor.
How examinations and treatment are carried out
Radiopharmaceuticals can be administered intravenously or transarterially, depending on the examination or therapy to be performed. When necessary, patients are admitted on a day hospital basis in dedicated, shielded rooms in full compliance with radiation protection regulations.
Activities
PET/CT diagnostics: detailed images to understand the disease
The service uses different types of PET/CT tracers, each with a specific clinical indication:
- 18F-FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose): the most widely used tracer in a large number of malignancies in staging, assessment of response to therapy (early or late), radiotherapy treatment planning, and in suspected disease recurrence;
- 18F-FCH (fluorocholine): specific radiopharmaceutical for prostate pathology and adenoma detection in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism;
- 18F-DCFPyL (PSMA): prostate-specific radiopharmaceutical with elective indication for biochemical recurrence after primary treatment, with PSA values even below 1 ng/ml.
Scintigraphic diagnostics and SPECT/TC: studying the body “in depth”
In addition to PET/CT scintigraphy, the department performs conventional scintigraphic examinations, which are essential to investigate various aspects of the disease:
- Total body bone scintigraphy: for the study of bone metabolism and early detection of skeletal secondarisms from various malignancies
- Lymphatic and lymphoglandular scintigraphy for sentinel lymph node detection in breast, gynecologic, urologic, and melanoma pathology
- Liver scintigraphy: diagnostic test preparatory to radioembolization treatment
- Thyroid scintigraphy: allows the study of thyroid function; it is a useful test in the characterization of thyroid nodules and in the framing of hyperthyroidism
- Lung scintigraphy: enables the study of lung perfusion, which is essential in the pre-surgical evaluation of patients undergoing lung surgery, diagnosis of embolism, and follow-up of obstructive diseases
Radiometabolic therapy
The department also performs therapeutic treatments with radiopharmaceuticals, including radioembolization (TARE). In this case, Yttrio-90-labeled microspheres are used, introduced directly into the vessels feeding the liver tumors (primary or inoperable metastatic), with the aim of targeting the tumor from within in a targeted manner and with low side effects.
Contact
- We are on the Ground Floor – East Wing
- Phone: 011 993 3773
- Email: reparto.medicina.nucleare@ircc.it
How to book
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