Unicamp's Hospital de Clínicas (HC) received as a donation the amount of 485 thousand euros (around R$ 3 million reais) for the implementation of the National Center for Teaching and Training in Radiopharmacy in Nuclear Medicine (NNM-RTC, acronym in English).
To formalize the project, which will last four years, the technical director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Enrique Estrada Lobato visited the HC and the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) on September 13th. The IAEA is one of the arms of the United Nations (UN), located in Vienna, Austria.
The NNM-RTC will be installed at HC Nuclear Medicine for the production of radiopharmaceuticals not yet available in Brazil for medical applications. Currently, at Unicamp, there is only the radionuclide fluorine-18 that marks fluorine-deoxy-glucose (FDG), similar to glucose, for detecting tumors in organs and tissue throughout the body in PET/CT exams.
Leader in radiopharmaceutical training
According to nuclear doctor and professor Elba Cristina Sá de Camargo Etchebehere, the financial support from the IAEA/UN, through the National Development project, will make Unicamp a leader in radiopharmaceutical training in the country and, possibly, in Latin America.
“The project will allow the acquisition of equipment and supplies, promoting an infrastructure for the safe use of technologies in nuclear medicine. In addition to training radiopharmaceuticals, the project will train doctors who will be a reference in innovation in nuclear medicine and various other medical specialties, as well as physicists and technologists. Consequently, new lines of research can be developed”, explains Elba, the main person responsible for the project.
She explains that the project will address the synthesis of around 11 new radiotracers for diagnosis and treatment in oncology, neurology, cardiopneumology and infectious diseases. The synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals that combine diagnostic and therapeutic applications in a single drug, a model called theranostic, will be one of the objectives for the treatment of prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors.
During the Center's period of validity, the IAEA/UN will carry out scientific visits, workshops, meetings, expert missions, among others, to provide the knowledge and technical experience necessary to conduct the various stages of the project.
“Such actions will train professionals who will act as a reference in Brazil and in the transfer of know-how acquired at Unicamp. This will promote the permanent formation of a multidisciplinary team and the expansion of knowledge of nuclear medicine throughout Brazil”, comments Bárbara Juarez Amorim, coordinator of the Nuclear Medicine Service at the hospital and advisor to the Assistance Coordination (COAS) of the Unicamp HC.
Researchers and investment
In addition to the IAEA/UN investment, there are other partner institutions and national and international funding sources involved in the project: Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes), CMR BRASIL, Cyclobrás LTDA, Center for Development and Nuclear Technology (CDTN/ CNEN), Brain Institute of PUC-RS, Villas Boas Radiopharmaceuticals, R2IBF, Grupo RPH, Brazilian Society of Nuclear Medicine (SBMN), University of Pretoria, South Africa, and Hospital Anderson Cancer Center, United States.
The team from the Nuclear Medicine Division of the HC of Unicamp that will be part of the project at Unicamp is made up of the following professionals and researchers: Elba Etchebehere, Allan Santos, Barbara Juarez Amorim, Sérgio San Juan Dertkigil, Celso Dario Ramos, Ludmila Almeida, Mariana Lima, Vania Castro, Daniel Onusic and Sergio Brunetto.
Visit to HC and FCM
In the morning, Enrique also visited the Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM) at Unicamp, where he was received by the director Claudio Saddy Rodrigues Coy, the coordinator of the FCM Internationalization Office Otávio Rizzi Coelho Filho and the associate director Erich Vinicius de Paula.
Enrique was welcomed to the HC superintendence by nurse and HC project and clinical research advisor Eliete Zeferino, who gave a presentation about the hospital. After the presentation, he visited the Nuclear Medicine space at HC, where the NNM-RTC will be installed. The entire visit to HC and FCM was accompanied by Bárbara Juarez Amorim and Elba Etchebehere.
Article originally published on the Hospital de Clínicas da Unicamp website.
