The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) develops world’s first primary standard for molecular radiotherapy to ensure its safe, effective use in the treatment of cancer.
The new standard will help improve the consistency of treatments with MRT, in which radioactive molecules, or radiopharmaceuticals, are injected directly into a patient’s body to target and kill cancerous cells. Such standardisation is vital to encouraging more widespread use of MRT and the development of new and improved radiopharmaceuticals.
Like any form of radiotherapy, the success of MRT relies on the delivery of an extremely precise dose of radiation – the goal is to maximise the dose delivered to the tumour, while minimising damage to surrounding healthy tissue. However, in contrast to other forms of radiotherapy, dosimetry for MRT is not well established.
Source: http://www.npl.co.uk/news/worlds-first-primary-standard-developed-for-molecular-radiotherapy