RLT Academy

This project aimed to improve education and training in the field of Radioligand Therapy. This field is an innovative field consisting of administration of radioactive drugs (“radiopharmaceuticals”) to combat cancer, with a strong increase in approved drugs and potential patients expected in the coming years. Increasing the skills and the number of trained professionals involved in preparation and administration is crucial. There is a strong need to understand how RLT is currently incorporated in training curricula and how they can be improved to increase the knowledge about RLT. Furthermore, there is a lack of online tools to learn about RLT and there is no organized framework that allows healthcare providers to get practical exposure to RLT. Finally, there are many obstacles that impede the implementation of RLT and we there is a clear need of guidance from experts from the field to guide policymakers so that they can address the needs of the field and remove barriers for adaption, so that all European eligible patients can get access to the treatment.

Our consortium had 5 main task. The first was to map the current educational landscape in Europe through a survey of universities and scientific organizations. The second was to build a training curriculum which would provide a basic and advanced course to educate medical professionals on RLT. The third was to build a website allowing to present and assess this curriculum. The fourth consisted in the formulation of policy recommendations for the wider adoption of RLT in Europe. The final task consisted in the organization of training fellowships in 4 European expert centers in RLT, consisting of short term ( one week) and long term fellowships ( > 1 month).

The project resulted in a peer-reviewed publication that maps the educational landscape on RLT in Europe, published in the world leading nuclear medicine journal “European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging” (Bugani V et al. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2023;50(9):2692-2698. PMID: 37058168). The main output is the website, with links to >90 video modules and a possibility to pass an examination assessing the content of these modules. The topics covered in the First Module include radioprotection, radiopharmacy, radiobiology and organizational aspects of RLT. The Second Module covers dosimetry, thyroid disease, neuroendocrine tumors, bone disease, prostate and urinary cancer and special topics. Finally, a document with the policy recommendations was produced. This includes recommendations on basic and clinical research, legislation, health policy, education, and finally radioprotection and waste management. Two multipliers events were organized, one focusing on the need for education, the curriculum that the RLT academy proposes to tackle this need and the website through which it is disseminated. The second consisted of the presentation of the policy recommendations.