The latest meeting of the Group took place at Aston University, Birmingham on April 19th 2001. Items of general interest are included in this newsletter.
Training course in radiopharmacy. The course at King's College London was held between April 2nd and 6th with approximately 20 attendees from a variety of disciplines. It is intended that this will become a regular event in the calendar.
Adelphi vials. Many people are using these as an alternative to the Nycomed Amersham nitrogen filled vials which became much more expensive. The most recent batch from Adelphi will have a pressure within the vial that is 90% of atmospheric and users will therefore notice a negative pressure. Another interesting point is that Type A containers used to transport vials of radiopharmaceuticals between hospitals have been validated with P6 vials rather than the Adelphi vials which are of slightly different dimensions.
Radiopharmacy Handbook. Work on revision and updating continues. The intention is that the final version will be available in the UKRG website, rather than being published.
Group patient directions. No response has yet been received from the MCA to the group's submission on this topic. It is being followed up.
Supply problems with radiopharmaceuticals. You will be aware of the problems caused by the withdrawal of Dicopac. A source of intrinsic factor is Biofac in Denmark and Boots Contract Manufacturing are prepared to pack into into capsules. However the quality of the material has not been established and is of porcine origin. A certificate of analysis has been seen but is of very limited value. The material will definitely not have a product licence and its use will be on the responsibility of the clinician. Humanised intrinsic factor keeps being mentioned as becoming available but further details are awaited.
Withdrawal of "Scintadren" for adrenal cortex studies has seen a swap back to I 131 norcholesterol. There now seems to be a problem with availability of the raw material for this radiopharmaceutical and supplies will be limited until at least July. Radiopharmacy problems database
The latest collation was discussed and you should have received one. If not please contact Stuart Hesslewood (s.r.hesslewood@aston.ac.uk).
Continuing problems with generator elution were reported from a range of manufacturers. The question arises as to whether the problem may be associated with the use of isolators since alignment of elution needles within the evacuated vial may be more difficult to achieve because of restricted visibility. Any comments would be gratefully received. In addition there was a report in which biodistribution of medronate has been severely affected by the concurrent administration of an inactive biphosphonate, clodronate. With the increasing range of indication of this drug, together with other biphosphonates, departments should be aware of the potential interaction.
Hespan for erythrocyte sedimentation. Following problems with the revised formulation, alternatives have been tried and Baxter 6% hetastarch appears to be effective. At present, it is necessary to use a 500ml bag but enquiries are being made to see if individual ampoules can be made available. The original formulation can still be imported from the USA, but is comparatively expensive.
SPC for Neospect. The SPC for this new peptide radiopharmaceutical for lung tumour imaging states that oxidant free eluate of a technetium generator should be used. It appears that eluates containing nitrates adversely affect the stability of the agent and under such conditions has a shelf life of 30 minutes as opposed 5 hours.
Recruitment in radiopharmacy. The group is acutely aware of problems of recruitment and retention in radiopharmacy. A strategy document inline with "Making the change" and defining clearly the role of the radiopharmaceutical scientist is to be produced in an attempt to improve the situation. Aspects of the service other than the reconstitution of technetium kits need to be emphasised. In this respect it is worth noting that the BNMS has responded to the Chief Medical Officers document "Organisation with a memory" highlighting potentially hazardous areas within the specialty and how these are tackled. The response included reference to recognition, reporting and dissemination of information on adverse reactions to radiopharmaceuticals.
CPD Accreditation of courses by the College of Pharmacy Practice is now done on a meeting by meeting basis and is more expensive. Concern was expressed that specialist pharmacists, such as radiopharmacists may wish to attend meetings put on by organisers who would not consider it worthwhile seeking accreditation by this route.
Radiopharmacy Handbook Revision has been slower than wished for but the current draft version is on the UKRG website. Updating is still required in some sections but it is hoped to move forward with this as quickly as possible.
Quality Assurance of Radiopharmaceuticals. The revised document drawn up in collaboration with The NHS QC committee should be published in NMC this summer.
Any other general comments, views, news can be sent to:
Stuart Hesslewood (s.r.hesslewood@aston.ac.uk)