ABSTRACT

A seeming lack of correspondence between dose estimates and outcomes has been probably the most difficult issue in the history of targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT). As described in Chapters 4, 5, and 6, estimates of absorbed dose in TRT require relatively complicated experimental data acquisitions as well as difficult mathematical operations on often unknown geometries. Again, the unfortunate term dosimetry has been linked with these processes, thus giving rise to a negative view on the entire assessment of absorbed dose. Using the correct term dose estimation allows the analyst greater credibility in any subsequent discussion of why these numerical values may differ from those actually found in nature. We must also add that most of the published estimates do not carry with them any associated error or absorbed dose uncertainty. This feature is a further confounding item in why there may be little belief in the absorbed dose calculation.