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Radionuclide therapy events: What we can learn and what to do?
Moderator: Debbie Gilley (IAEA)
Presenters: Bruce Thomadsen (the United States)
Date of broadcast: 15 July 2020, 3 pm CEST
About the webinar
Radionuclide therapy using a radiopharmaceutical that targets cells, dates back to the late 1940s. Since then, the use of this effective therapy for treating diseases such as cancer has grown every year.
At times a patient did not receive the intended treatment for different reasons such as technical faults in equipment, the incorrect radionuclide being delivered, and health staff error.
A robust quality management (QM) program reduces the likelihood of such events. The techniques presented in the report of Task Group 100 of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine can guide the development of such a QM program.
Using event reporting and learning systems such as Safety in Radiation Oncology (SAFRON) can be also useful in preventing events. Learning about how practitioners have faced challenges provides information and guidance on early warning measures. Any facility that suffers an event should report the details to a reporting system to assist the rest of the community make radionuclide therapy safer for all.
Learning objectives
- To learn about how to prevent unintended or accidental exposure in radionuclide therapy through a robust quality management program.
- To learn how the SAFRON incident learning system can be used to improve safety and quality in radionuclide therapy.
About the presenter
Bruce Thomadsen , USA
Dr Bruce Thomadsen is a Professor Emeritus of Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin. He has a Master and PhD from the University of Wisconsin, he is a Diplomat with the American Board of Radiology, American Board of Health Physics and the American Board of Medical Physics. He is a former President of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Organization. Dr Thomadsen served on the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Advisory Committee for Medical Uses of Isotopes from 2007 to 2015, serving as chair of the Advisory Committee from 2013 to 2015.
