Highlights of the 30th Annual Congress of the EANM, Vienna 2017: "Yes we can - make nuclear medicine great again"

Abstract

The 30th Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) was held in Vienna, Austria, from 21 to 25 October 2017 under the chairmanship of Professor Francesco Giammarile. As always, the Congress was a great success: more than 6,379 participants came from 90 countries from all continents. Participants were presented with an excellent programme consisting of symposia, and scientific and featured sessions, CME sessions, and plenary lectures. These lectures were devoted to nuclear medicine imaging and therapy, including hybrid imaging and molecular life sciences. Additionally, the latest technology and innovations in the field were presented, and added to the success of the Congress. This review summarizes the major scientific contributions which were selected from more than 1,900 submitted abstracts, and presented in the closing highlights session. They cover the diverse areas of nuclear medicine, with particular focus on oncology, cardiovascular science, neurology, technological innovation and novel tracers, and also other clinical sciences. A particular focus of the Congress was on targeted radionuclide-based therapies, which all show promising and great innovations. The Congress was a unique opportunity to be thoroughly updated on this research. This Highlights Lecture could only be a brief summary of the large amount of data presented and discussed during the meeting, which can be found in much greater detail in the Congress proceedings book, published as volume 44, supplement 2 of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging in October 2017.

Keywords: Abstracts; Annual congress; EANM 2017; Highlights; Nuclear medicine; PET; Radionuclide therapy and dosimetry; Radiopharmaceuticals; SPECT.

Fig. 1

Numbers of abstracts submitted, accepted and rejected for presentation at EANM annual meetings since 2007

Fig. 2

Abstracts submitted to EANM 2017 by country and continent

Fig. 3

PET 20.0: a cost-efficient, 2.00-mm resolution total body monolithic PET system with very high sensitivity and an adaptive axial field of view up to 2.00 m, presented by Vandenberghe et al. of the University of Ghent in collaboration with other Dutch, Belgian and US institutions [2]

Fig. 4

Diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism using ¹⁸F-GP1 positron emission tomography. An exploratory open-label study from Seoul [9] showing excellent targeting of GPIIb/IIIa receptors on activated platelets leading to high sensitivity and specificity

Fig. 5

⁶⁸Ga-PSMA-HBED-CC-IRdye800CW, a novel dual labelled PSMA inhibitor with promising properties that may allow PET/CT to be combined with fluorescence-guided surgery for the evaluation of prostate cancer [12]

Fig. 6

A theranostic approach, presented by Bergmann et al. [17], used to monitor a novel immunotherapeutic technique (UniCAR T) based on site-directed target molecules that upon binding selectively turn on the immunotherapeutic action of T cells. A ⁶⁸Ga-PSMA targeting molecule is able to initialize the therapeutic effect and at the same time allows the targeting efficiency to be monitored by PET

Fig. 7

TSPO PET imaging of high-grade glioma (HGG) using the novel ligand ¹⁸F-GE-180. First-in-human results in the course of radiotherapy [21]

Fig. 8

^123/131I-IMAZA as a new theranostic tool in patients with advanced adrenocortical carcinoma [25]

Fig. 9

Repeatability of tumour hypoxia imaging using ¹⁸F-EF5 PET/CT in head and neck cancer [32]

Fig. 10

⁶⁸Ga-PSMA PET/CT mapping of early biochemical recurrence after primary surgery in 270 Patients with PSA < 1.0 ng/ml, indicating the high potential clinical impact of PSMA PET on salvage radiotherapy planning [33]

Fig. 11

Theranostic trial of somatostatin antagonists ⁶⁸Ga-OPS201 and ¹⁷⁷Lu-OPS201 in well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours (NET), revealing high safety and excellent response rates even after only one cycle of therapy with ¹⁷⁷Lu-OPS201 [41]

Fig. 12

Results of early phase clinical trials with ¹⁷⁷Lu-lilotomab satetraxetan targeting the CD37 antigen. Predosing with lilotomab prior to antibody–radionuclide conjugate therapy with ¹⁷⁷Lu-lilotomab satetraxetan significantly increases the ratio of tumour to red marrow absorbed dose in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma [42]

Fig. 13

Treatment reduction in patients with advanced stage Hodgkin lymphoma and a negative interim PET scan. Final results of the international, randomized phase 3 HD18 trial by the German Hodgkin Study Group [47]

Fig. 14

An impressive case of treatment response after only one cycle of ²²⁵Ac-PSMA 617, the radiopharmaceutical of the year at EANM 2017. Data on therapeutic efficacy [48]