Molecular radiotherapy in Brazil: available treatments and their regional distribution

Abstract

With the advancement of nuclear medicine in Brazil and globally, the study of potential therapies derived from this modality, known as molecular radiotherapies, has turned out extremely important. Even with Brazil’s significant technological advances, the sector still faces a shortage of therapies available in comparison with the international market. Furthermore, as a country with a large population and vast territory, there are questions about how the country’s nuclear medicine services are organized geographically, including the importance of analyzing the population’s access to these services. Therefore, a study comparing the nuclear medicine therapies available by Brazilian region, considering the local population and territorial area of each region, is relevant. To facilitate access to information for students, professionals in the field, and interested parties, the study was based on simple and straightforward writing, using graphs and tables to visually summarize the information. Public data available on the website of the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) regarding the number of nuclear medicine services in the country was collected, and the radionuclides authorized for use in each institution were recorded. In this way, it was possible to demonstrate how therapies are divided territorially and to carry out a comparative analysis of the main radionuclides present in clinical practice, in addition to their distribution among Brazilian regions.