A Report on the Implementation Aspects of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s First Doctoral Coordinated Research Project, “Management of Liver Cancer Using Radionuclide Methods With Special Emphasis on Trans-Arterial Radio-Conjugate Therapy and Internal Dosimetry”

Liver cancer is one of the most dreaded cancers, and it is highly prevalent in the developing countries, where the resources are extremely scarce to deal with this disease using the current commercially available and expensive therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in pursuit of its mandate to promote the application of nuclear technology in the health care in its Member States, has developed and clinically evaluated a new and cost-effective therapeutic radio-conjugate, rhenium-188 (¹⁸⁸Re)-lipiodol for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma through its first Doctoral Coordinated Research Project. The ready availability of no-carrier-added ¹⁸⁸Re from the tungsten-188/¹⁸⁸Re generator represents a potentially important source of a therapeutic radioisotope for a broad range of therapeutic applications in nuclear medicine. The alumina-based tungsten-188/¹⁸⁸Re generator system comes with reasonable cost and exhibits attractive therapeutic properties, excellent performance and very long useful shelf-life. Because of the long shelf-life of several months, the use of this generator offers a unique opportunity for the cost-effective and routine availability of a versatile therapeutic radioisotope on an on-demand basis. Further, using its extensive global network and outreach, the IAEA has also transferred the technology of the in-house preparation and use of ¹⁸⁸Re-labeled lipiodol to many institutions around the world, which can now prepare ¹⁸⁸Re-labeled lipiodol in their own radiopharmacy laboratories and treat patients. This effort of the IAEA in trying to address some of the challenges of liver cancer therapy in developing countries has been and truly a global venture with involvement and contributions from several organizations, institutions and numerous individuals. This article discusses some of the implementation aspects of this very important activity of the Agency.