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1st World Congress on Ga-68 and Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy

THERANOSTICS – on the Way to Personalized Medicine

Since 1997, when he first used the radiolabeled peptide Y-90 DOTATOC (a somatostatin anlogue) to treat a 15-year-old boy with a rare neuroendocrine tumor, called paraganglioma, and saw the boy go from being wheelchair-bound and in terrible pain to a young man of 20 who was walking and playing soccer, Prof. Dr. med. Richard P. Baum has been passionate about Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRNT). To share his enthusiasm

and knowledge with physicians and scientists throughout the world, Dr. Baum and his colleague from Mainz, Prof. Dr. sc. nat. Frank Rösch, have created the 1st World Congress on Gallium-68 and Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy. This Congress, co-organized by the Department of Nuclear Medicine/PET Center, Zentralklinik Bad Berka and the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz will be held June 23 – 26, 2011 in Bad Berka, Germany.

 

Dr. Baum with Pet/CT 

The Congress is also presented in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the World Association of Radhiopharmaceutical & Molecular Therapy (WARMTH), and the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology (WFNMB).

The major theme of the Congress is THERANOSTICS – on the Way to Personalized Medicine. Personalized medicine is a rapidly growing field of healthcare in which treatments are as individualized as the disease they are targeting. Factors taken into consideration are each person's unique clinical, genetic, genomic, and environmental information. This is especially important for neuroendocrine cancers such as carcinoid and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors because, according to Dr. Baum, NET cancer is not one disease. Neuroendocrine tumors are not a single tumor entity, he explains, but probably a 100 tumor entity with many different features. Thus the treatment for each patient must be based upon whether the tumor is progressive, aggressive, and the biological behavior of the tumor.

Physicians, chemists, and scientific investigators -- those who are new in the field and those who wish to broaden their understanding of the rapidly developing research and clinical applications of Gallium-68 and other generator-produced PET radioisotopes -- are encouraged to attend. Speakers from throughout the world will share fascinating insights into their research and clinical work.

A number of companies, including EZAG (Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen-und Medizintechnik AG), Berlin, ITM GmbH, Munich, Siemens AG, Erlangen, IDB Holland bv, PV Baarle-Nassau, and many others will participate in the Industry Exhibition, where they will present the latest technological developments in generator technology and Ga-68 modules, devices and labelling strategies.

 

Post Congress, from June 27 to June 29, a limited number of participants will have the unique opportunity to participate in a hands-on Training School on PET Radionuclide Generators 68Ge/68Ga at the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry of the University of Mainz. The training school will combine both theory and practice on topics ranging from generators to ligands and labeling to GMP and regulatory aspects.

Topics and highlights of the Congress include:

• Chemistry of new Ga-68 labeled tracers

• Regulatory issues related to investigational radiopharmaceuticals

• Large scale production of therapeutic radionuclides (Lu-177, Y-90, and other trivalent therapeutic radiomentals)

• Ga-68 imagining in clinical practice – worldwide experience (Europe, Asia, South America, Africa)

• Ga-68 for imaging bone metastases

• Current progress and novel developments in ongoing research projects

• Milestones of PRRNT – clinical applications and future developments

• Selection criteria for PRRNT

• Diagnosis and follow-up after PRRNT using Receptor PET/CT

For further details about the 1st World Congress on Ga-68 and Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, CLICK HERE.