Virginia Cancer Specialists has been selected by the American Society for Radiation Oncology as one of the first 2 authorized user training centers in the U.S. for radiopharmaceutical therapy.
The Fairfax, VA, practice will provide hands-on supervised patient case experience, multidisciplinary mentorship, and implementation guidance for radiation oncologists seeking to offer RPT.
ASTRO launched the national training-center initiative in January to address limited access to supervised RPT case training.
Federal requirements for physicians seeking authorized user status include didactic education and supervised patient cases, but ASTRO said access to those cases can be limited in areas where radiopharmaceutical treatments are not already offered.
Radiopharmaceutical therapy uses targeted radioactive molecules to deliver tumor-specific radiation and is most commonly used for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors, according to Virginia Cancer Specialists.
Virginia Cancer Specialists launched its RPT program in 2014 and said it has treated more than 2,000 patients with radiopharmaceutical therapies.
The program is led by radiation oncologists Harold C. Agbahiwe, MD, and Gregory S. Sibley, MD, with Youssef Charara, PhD, DABR, serving as chief medical physicist.
The practice also initiated a radiopharmaceutical clinical trial in 2024 and described radiopharmaceuticals as drugs that contain and deliver small amounts of radioactive material for cancer diagnosis or treatment.
ASTRO said the broader program is intended to expand the number of physicians certified to deliver emerging radiopharmaceutical cancer treatments.
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