Interview with Dr. Joe Cardaci: committee member of the international Registry

Dr. Joe Cardaci, committee member of the international Registry, tells us a bit about his experience with the Rhenium-SCT and this world-first Registry for non-melanoma skin cancer treatments.

You have been involved with many ‘firsts’ in the nuclear medicine category in Australia. Why did you decide to introduce Rhenium-SCT® to Australian patients?  

When I first saw the Oncobeta therapy and the outstanding clinical results I felt a need to bring this to Australia as quickly as possible, given the high incidence of skin cancer in our country. I went to Rome to meet one of the developers of the technique, Antiocco Sedda, and had a long and fruitful discussion with him about the science behind the treatment. I came away from that meeting knowing that the science was robust, and the technique was highly adaptable to lesions of all shapes, sizes and locations. Subsequently, with the assistance of the Oncobeta parent company, I was able to install the necessary equipment into my practice and undertake the first treatments in Australia. I have been actively working with dermatology and plastic surgical colleagues to increase awareness of this treatment. 

How will the International Registry help you as a physician?  

A large body of data from treated patients, with validated outcomes, will be useful in demonstrating to our colleagues the efficacy and benefits of this treatment. It may also help to identify particular subtypes of lesions which may do better with this treatment. 

What kind of findings do you expect to extrapolate from the data?

I think it will help with lesion selection. I expect it will show high rates of lesion remission with minimal side effects.

The international Registry has an easy-to-use APP (WeBe App) built to document the patient experience. Why is it patient experience so crucial in this Registry? 

I believe one of the main advantages of this treatment is the patient experience. Single session treatment vs multisession external beam radiotherapy or surgical intervention requiring anaesthesia and/or hospital admission. Patients will vote with their feet when presented with the option of single session therapy not requiring surgery or anaesthesia. The cosmetic outcome will also strongly influence patient preference.

You are a committee member of the International Registry. What is your role? 

My role, alongside the other members of the committee, is to design and implement a Registry to collect and collate high quality data regarding this treatment. 

What is the International Registry and what does it mean for Australia considering it has the largest NMSC community? 

 The Registry will develop a large dataset of clinical outcomes which will provide a basis for Regulatory bodies, and Clinical Societies, to evaluate Rhenium-SCT. There is a lack of awareness amongst the Australian medical community regarding this treatment. This will slowly change, but opinions will not be changed without robust evidence of clinical efficacy, and outcomes, which will be provided by this Registry.