MIR / Patient Care / Medical Imaging / Center for Clinical Theranostics Research

Center for Clinical Theranostics Research

Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology’s clinical theranostics program provides personalized medical management through targeted radiopharmaceutical diagnosis and therapy. The theranostics program, which has been recognized as a Radiopharmarceutical Therapy Center of Excellence, is a collaboration between the Division of Nuclear Medicine and the Department of Radiation Oncology. The program provides a full range of theranostic services, including consultation, radiopharmaceutical infusions for both clinical and research treatments and follow-up evaluations.  

Theranostics is the combination of diagnosis and therapy using radiopharmaceuticals to image and provide radioactive targeted therapy.

  • The first step, which is provided by the Division of Nuclear Medicine, is assessing the presence (or absence) of a specific target on cancer cells through specialized imaging, such as positron emission tomography (PET) or single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).
  • If sufficient targets are identified through imaging, these are then used by the radioactive therapy to deliver a high radiation dose to the cancerous tissue.
  • Unlike external beam radiation therapy, the targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy delivers short-range beta or alpha particles directly to the tumor.

Your oncologist or treating physician will initially assess whether radiopharmaceutical therapy should be considered. Your case may be presented at a tumor conference, where a team of specialists will discuss all available treatment options for your consideration. If required, additional testing may be requested to ensure that this therapy is right for you.

As defined by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines, current clinical indications include prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, thyroid cancer and neuroblastoma.

You will meet with a nuclear medicine physician who will discuss the therapy in detail. If you and the physician determine the therapy is right for you, a theranostics coordinator will contact you to plan and schedule all required appointments.

We currently offer therapies with Lutathera, Pluvicto, Xofigo and radioiodine.

  • Lutathera, a somatostatin receptor-targeting radiopharmaceutical, has been shown to have high efficacy in treating patients with neuroendocrine tumors.
  • Pluvicto is a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeting radiopharmaceutical. It has been shown to result in significant overall survival benefit for patients with metastasized castrate-resistant prostate cancer.
  • Ra-223 (Xofigo) selectively targets osseous metastasis and is a good treatment option for prostate cancer patients with predominant bone metastases.
  • Radioiodine therapy with I-131 is available to patients with differentiated thyroid cancers.

After you arrive at the CCTR, the theranostics nurse and/or nuclear medicine technologist will check you in and take you back to a therapy room. After a short visit by a nuclear medicine physician, you will receive your treatment in one of our state-of-the-art radiopharmaceutical therapy rooms, where you will remain until your treatment is finished.

All therapies are provided on an outpatient basis under the supervision of a nuclear medicine physician, so you can return home after the treatment is complete.

The available services are provided in the CCTR by the Division of Nuclear Medicine and at the Center for Advanced Medicine by the Department of Radiation Oncology.

If after your initial consultation it is determined that radioactive targeted therapy is right for you, our team will work with your insurance company to obtain all necessary approvals.  

The CCTR allows for theranostic Phase 1 to Phase 3 clinical trials for many cancer types. Go to the Siteman Cancer Center directory for a listing of current clinical trials.

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