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Title: Does absorbed dose predict outcome in radionuclide therapy
Plain: In external beam treatment, more dose means more tumour control. Whether the same holds for radioactive drugs, where dose arrives slowly and unevenly, has not been shown convincingly.
Precise: Establish whether tumour absorbed dose, computed from quantitative imaging and time-activity integration for Lu-177 labelled agents, predicts response with a slope distinguishable from zero, and whether kidney and marrow absorbed dose predicts toxicity. Typical delivered tumour doses span $10^3$ to $3 x 10^4\,\mathrm{rad}$ at dose rates of 1 to 100 rad/h. An answer is a dose-response relation with confidence intervals, or a demonstration that dose rate and biological factors dominate.
Settled by: Prospective trials randomizing or stratifying by measured absorbed dose rather than administered activity.
Kind: well-posed
Answer type: yes-no
References: (empty)
Literature status: partially-resolved
Status note: Dosimetry-guided dose escalation studies reported through 2024 support a relation for some agents; fixed-activity dosing remains standard practice.
Posed since: 2000