Critical Challenges in Pluvicto Therapy: Incontinent and Anticoagulated Patients.

As molecular therapy continues to grow, unanticipated challenges may arise, requiring the institution's therapeutic team to reevaluate its therapeutic protocol to identify and address potential situations and challenges that may occur. This practical pointer will focus on the novel prostate cancer therapy Pluvicto (177Lu-vipivotide tetraxetan) and 2 unique situations and challenges of treating patients at the Theranostic Center at Carilion Clinic, an outpatient facility dedicated to targeted molecular therapy.

Reimbursement Approaches for Radiopharmaceutical Dosimetry: Current Status and Future Opportunities.

Interest in performing dosimetry for clinical radiopharmaceutical therapy procedures has grown in recent years. Several approved therapies include dosimetry in the Food and Drug Administration-approved label instructions, and other therapies are best used under a patient-tailored paradigm. This paper, which is a product of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Dosimetry Task Force, presents motivations and general workflows for radiopharmaceutical therapy dosimetry, as well as existing strategies for obtaining reimbursement for clinical activities related to dosimetry. Several specific patient examples are provided, including suggested codes for reimbursement. In addition to current reimbursement approaches, key dosimetry services that are not supported under the current coding structure are presented and suggested as areas of focus in the coming years.

Detection of Excess Presence of 99m Tc-MDP Near Injection Site-A Case Report.

Nuclear medicine extravasations and prolonged venous stasis may cause poor quality and quantification errors that can affect image interpretation and patient management. Radiopharmaceutical remaining near the administration site means that some portion of the radioactivity is not circulating as required for the prescribed uptake period. This case describes how detection of excess presence of 99mTc-MDP near the injection site enabled the technologist to apply mitigation tactics early in the uptake process. It also suggests that detecting an extravasation or stasis early in the injection process can be important for image interpretation and minimizing radiation dose to tissue.

Impact of an 18F-FDG PET/CT Radiotracer Injection Infiltration on Patient Management-A Case Report.

Major management decisions in patients with solid tumors and lymphomas are often based on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT. The misadministration of 18F-FDG outside the systemic circulation can have an adverse impact on this test's sensitivity (1) and is not uncommon (2-7). This report describes how an 18F-FDG misadministration led to a repeat PET/CT study, resulting in the visualization of distant metastases that changed the original treatment plan. The findings suggest that routine injection monitoring is indicated whenever sensitivity is critical, and support claims that infiltrations can confound interpretation of semi-quantitative PET outcome measures in patients who are followed longitudinally (2).