سامان دالوند

Assessing the educational program relevance to job requirements can help identify its weaknesses and foster an opportunity for its improvement. Radiology experts play a vital role in disease diagnosis. The objective of this study was to investigate the viewpoint of radiology graduates about the coordination of the curriculum of Radiology BSc with their professional needs.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 134 graduates of radiology BSc Working in Medical Imaging centers of Hamedan, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, Ilam, and Lorestan in the academic year 2018. In each province, 20% of the population of radiology technologists was selected via simple random sampling. Data were collected through a questionnaire that included demographic information and survey questions about the application of the main courses in this field in job responsibilities. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage).

Based on the job needs, the current curriculum had varying levels of application. The highest application rate was in specialty courses (4.04±0.7), and the lowest rate was in basic courses (3.08±0.9). The results revealed that the appropriate courses are Anatomy 1-3 (4. 6±0.7), and Radiographic positioning and procedures 1-3 (4.6±0.8) in specialty courses, and radiographic positioning and procedure in training units (4.2±0.6). Ultrasound physics and Seminar in specialty courses, and Statics and general mathematics in basic courses had the least conformity with professional needs with 3.15±1.5, 2.7±1.3, 1.8±0.7, and 2. 1±0.9, respectively. According to the results of this study, the graduates of this discipline had an average satisfaction level (3.26) with the contents of their academic program.

The findings indicated that the didactic content of radiology BS is somewhat coordinated with the job requirements of this field. However, the curriculum should be revised to improve its applicability for future employees.

Targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy is one of the most common methods for relieving pain in patients with bone metastasis. In this type of treatment, the bone marrow absorbed dose, as a critical organ, needs to be considered as a limiting factor. Until now, beta-emitter radiopharmaceuticals have been considered for this treatment modality, which one of the most commons is samarium-153-ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphonate (153Sm-EDTMP), but recently the radium-223-dichloride (223Ra-Cl2) alpha emitter radiopharmaceutical has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The aim of this study was to compare the bone marrow absorbed dose of 153Sm-EDTMP and 223Ra-Cl2 radiopharmaceuticals.

In this study, a lumbar vertebral bone phantom was used for simulation. The radiopharmaceuticals were distributed in the phantom, and the simulation was performed using the GATE Monte Carlo toolkit. After estimating the absorbed dose per decay in different parts of the phantom, the absorbed dose of radiopharmaceuticals in the bone marrow of a patient with 70 kg weight, was calculated using the Medical Internal Radiation Dosimetry (MIRD) method.

For 153Sm-EDTMP, the bone marrow absorbed dose was equal to 9.60 Gy for the administered activity of 2590 MBq. For 223Ra-Cl2, the bone marrow absorbed dose was calculated as 0.83 Gy for administered activity of 3.85 MBq.

Due to the lower bone marrow absorbed dose by 223Ra-Cl2 alpha emitter radiopharmaceutical, the use of this radiopharmaceutical as an alternative to 153Sm-EDTMP beta emitter radiopharmaceutical is recommended for palliative therapy of patients with bone metastasis.

170Tm-EDTMP has been proposed as a radiopharmaceutical with desirable properties and an alternative to 89Sr-Cl2 for the palliative treatment of patients with bone metastasis. This study aimed to calculate the absorbed dose of 170Tm-EDTMP in the bone of patients with bone metastasis.

In this study, an adult human femur phantom and the GATE Monte Carlo toolkit were used for simulation. 170Tm-EDTMP was distributed in the bone compartment, and the absorbed dose per disintegration was calculated in the different phantom compartment. In order to comparison and validation of results, simulations with similar conditions were performed for 89Sr-Cl2. Then, the absorbed dose per administered activity of radiopharmaceuticals in the bone and bone marrow was calculated using the MIRD method and compared with each other.

The bone absorbed dose per administered activity for 170Tm-EDTMP was 5.52 times higher than 89Sr-Cl2, while the bone marrow absorbed dose by 170Tm-EDTMP was 2.11 times higher than 89Sr-Cl2.

According to the results obtained in this study, 170Tm-EDTMP is a suitable radiopharmaceutical for use in the palliative treatment of patients with bone metastases. However, in order to further investigation, there is a need for clinical trial in the patients.