Suchergebnisse

Many countries have made significant investments in nuclear medicine (NM) technology with the acquisition of modern equipment and establishment of facilities, however, often appropriate training is not considered as part of these investments. Training for NM professionals is continually evolving, with a need to meet changing requirements in the workforce. Even places where established higher education courses are available, these do not necessarily cater to the practical component of training and the ever-changing technology that is central to medical imaging. The continuing advances in NM technology and growth of applications in quantitative clinical assessment place increases the pressure on technologists to learn and practice new techniques. Not only is training to understand new concepts limited but often there is inadequate training in the basics of NM and this can be a major constraint to the effective use of the evolving technology. Developing appropriate training programs for the broader international NM community is one of the goals of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). A particularly successful and relevant development has been the program on ?distance assisted training (DAT) for NM professionals?. The development of DAT was initiated in the 1990s through Australian Government funding, administered under auspices of the IAEA through its Regional Cooperative Agreement, involving most countries in Asia that are Member States of the IAEA. The project has resulted in the development of a set of training modules which are designed for use under direct supervision in the workplace, delivered through means of distance-learning. The program has undergone several revisions and peer reviews with the current version providing a comprehensive training package that is now available online. DAT has been utilized widely in Asia or the Pacific region, Latin America, and parts of Africa and Europe. Currently there are approximately 1000 registered participants, including persons providing student support, in the program.

Imaging biomarkers (IBs) are integral to the routine management of patients with cancer. IBs used daily in oncology include clinical TNM stage, objective response and left ventricular ejection fraction. Other CT, MRI, PET and ultrasonography biomarkers are used extensively in cancer research and drug development. New IBs need to be established either as useful tools for testing research hypotheses in clinical trials and research studies, or as clinical decision-making tools for use in healthcare, by crossing 'translational gaps' through validation and qualification. Important differences exist between IBs and biospecimen-derived biomarkers and, therefore, the development of IBs requires a tailored 'roadmap'. Recognizing this need, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) assembled experts to review, debate and summarize the challenges of IB validation and qualification. This consensus group has produced 14 key recommendations for accelerating the clinical translation of IBs, which highlight the role of parallel (rather than sequential) tracks of technical (assay) validation, biological/clinical validation and assessment of cost-effectiveness; the need for IB standardization and accreditation systems; the need to continually revisit IB precision; an alternative framework for biological/clinical validation of IBs; and the essential requirements for multicentre studies to qualify IBs for clinical use. ; Development of this roadmap received support from Cancer Research UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant references A/15267, A/16463, A/16464, A/16465, A/16466 and A/18097), the EORTC Cancer Research Fund, and the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (grant agreement number 115151), resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) companies' in kind contribution.