WIDIMApp

Targeted Radionuclide Therapy (TRT) is a nuclear medicine treatment in which a radiopharmaceutical is administered systemically to a patient with cancer. Due to its specificity for the tumor cells in question, this radiopharmaceutical will bind to the diseased cells: the radiation produced by decay will selectively damage the tumor. Knowledge of the dose distribution within the patient is of fundamental importance. To date, this dose distribution has been estimated by applying mathematical models using the amount of radiopharmaceutical activity injected as the only input parameter.

The aim of the WIDMApp project is to validate and optimize an innovative method for in vivo dosimetry of TRT treatments in patients, characterized by operational simplicity and accuracy far superior to those of the methods currently in use. The proposed method is based on the “WIDMApp” system: a multi-channel detector system that can be worn by the patient for several days after treatment, covering areas corresponding to different organs of interest. The signals recorded in quasi-continuous mode are then interpreted by a software algorithm capable of tracing, from the counts measured by the various detectors, the activities present in the organs of interest.

In fact, starting from the first treatment cycle, monitoring obtained through WIDMApp could suggest whether a patient is “responding” (i.e., responding to treatment), in which case it is appropriate to continue the same treatment, or whether it is necessary to change the therapeutic approach. The data collected will allow the dose given to each patient to be personalized, increasing the effectiveness of treatment.