Nuclear Medicine and Specialised PET services at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) provide specialised oncologic and non-oncologic services including being the only radionuclide therapy and oncologic radioiodine therapy site for 4.6 million Queenslanders, as well as being a tertiary and quaternary referral centre for Northern New South Wales, Northern Territory, New Zealand.

We have on-site GE PETtrace cyclotron with 18F targets and a GMP-certified radiochemistry lab. Currently we have 2 PET-CT, 4 SPECT/CT, 1 CZT.

We have been offering PET imaging since 2006 and have performed >30,000 FDG studies. We have also performed approx. 700 ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA, 1500 ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATATE & 200 ¹⁸F-DOPA scans.

We perform around 15 oncologic I-131 therapies and up to 16 Lu-TATE treatments monthly. We also manufacture FMISO and FLT. We support other Queensland Health facilities including supplying FDG, to as far as Townsville.

Radionuclide therapy – Theranostics approach

Radionuclide therapies which we offer are

1. ¹⁷⁷-Lu-DOTATATE for Neuroendocrine Tumors

1. ¹³¹-I-MIBG therapy for NET, PHEO/PGL

1. Radium-223, for prostate cancer bony metastases

We have a long history of radionuclide therapy, dating back to high dose 111-In-Octreotide, and have been one of the earliest sites to offer LuTATE clinically. We have a dedicated neuroendocrine MDT which follows theranostics approach.

We perform LuTATE dosimetry post-first cycle to assess renal and liver doses, of particular importance in patients with extensive liver metastases.

Future – We have ⁶⁸-Ga-CXCR4 ready for use and we are in the process of validating radiotracer for Tau protein and neuroinflammatory agents.

Our lab has prepared Lu-177-PSMA, and we are actively seeking funding to run clinical trials.

We are eager to collaborate with our colleagues around the world to further advance theranostics research and we thank our countless number of patients who have contributed. We aim to continue providing best care to many more Australians.