Radionuclide Therapy

Radionuclide Therapy

Guidance to a standardised term for Radionuclide Therapy / Radioligand Therapy / Radiopharmaceutical Therapy / …

Currently, many terms are in use that refer to the same thing: the therapeutic application of radionuclides/radiopharmaceuticals in the field of nuclear medicine. To enhance findability in search engines and research platforms and to avoid misunderstandings for patients and referring physicians, EANM together with many partner organizations (SNMMI, ANZSNM, IAEA, …) addressed this issue within the Nuclear Medicine Global Initiative (NMGI) framework. The NMGI’s latest project surveyed thousands of entries in PubMed and other platforms and explicitly asked 240 professionals from 30 countries on their current and preferred use of nuclear medicine therapy terminology. The finding revealed that an absolute majority preferred the term ‘targeted radionuclide therapy’.

Therefore, EANM strictly enforces the use of this specific term in all its proprietary publications and encourages all its members and the whole nuclear medicine community to follow this example. Standardising terms aims to improve communication and enhance patient outcomes after all. Of course, it is possible and allowed to additionally use well-established terms such as for example PRRT, TAT or RLT to ensure continuity in scientific reporting, but ‘targeted radionuclide therapy’ (abbreviated tRNT or TRT) must always be mentioned prominently when describing the application of radionuclides/radiopharmaceuticals in the context of nuclear medicine. Especially in the title of manuscript competing terms should always be avoided.

For more information, please have a look at the Consensus Nomenclature for Radionuclide Therapy: Initial Recommendations from Nuclear Medicine Global Initiative.

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