The International Conference of Radiobiology "From Dosimetry to biological effect: radiobiology as guides to clinical practice in nuclear medicine" was held in Sorrento  and was organized by the Nuclear Medicine Discovery (Nu.Me.D.) and sponsored, among others, by ENEA.

Physical, chemical, biological, medical doctors and engineers from 30 different countries around the world have designed the current scenario, made of lights and shadows, of Nuclear Medicine.

From the various reports has become apparent the common need to transfer the basic knowledge of radiation biology in clinical practice, in order to improve the effectiveness of radiation therapy and reduce, at the same time, undesired effects. In this regard, we must not forget that ionizing radiation - now widely used in oncology and endocrinology - take effect on tumor cells but, unfortunately, also a potential to cause injury on normal tissues and an intrinsic ability to generate free radicals (see also news Fukushima).

In this sense, the speech of Eugenio Luigi Iorio, president of the International Observatory of Oxidative Stress, stressed the need to assess, through the d-ROMs Test, oxidative stress in patients undergoing radiation therapy, in order to identify situations risk and initiate appropriate corrective action. The latter, on the basis of recent studies conducted in Japan, Norway and Italy with d-ROMs Test, also provide for the use of natural formulations of documented radioprotective action. They range from vitamin C to protein from whey, considered a precursor of the most important intracellular antioxidant, glutathione. According to dr. Iorio, the future of cancer therapy will be increasingly linked to the exploitation of cytocidal capacity of reactive chemical species in cancer cells. To the antioxidants, in the context of a healthy lifestyle, will be given a place for primary prevention of cancer and monitoring of undesired effects of conventional treatments.