Dr. Ishita B. Sen — a thoughtful approach to prostate cancer treatment.

Current role and clinical position

Dr. Sen's current institutional position is Director and Head of Nuclear Medicine and PET-CT, Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurugram. The FMRI nuclear medicine department delivers a full theranostic programme covering both diagnostic imaging and radioligand therapy under a single multidisciplinary structure^[1]. Her institutional clinical responsibilities include:

• Department leadership — clinical governance, quality assurance, AERB compliance under Safety Code SC-2 (Rev. 2), personnel training and credentialing.
• Direct clinical care — eligibility consultations, multidisciplinary tumour board review, treatment planning and delivery, post-treatment monitoring, and structured handover to referring oncologists.
• Multidisciplinary integration — chairing or contributing to tumour boards across prostate cancer (medical oncology, urology, radiation oncology), neuroendocrine tumours (medical oncology, gastroenterology, surgical oncology), and hepatobiliary cancers (hepatology, interventional radiology, transplant surgery, medical oncology).
• International patient pathway — eligibility review and treatment coordination for international patients travelling to FMRI for radioligand therapy under the structured patient pathway described in our companion medical travel guide.

Operations are under Theranostic Physicians Private Limited (TPPL), CIN U86201DL2024PTC434517, the registered corporate entity coordinating the clinical programme at FMRI.

Qualifications and training

Dr. Sen completed medical training in India and subsequent specialty training in nuclear medicine. Her formal qualifications include MBBS (medical graduation) and MD in Nuclear Medicine (specialty postgraduate training), the standard pathway for nuclear medicine consultant practice in India under the Medical Council of India / National Medical Commission framework^[3]. Beyond formal degree credentials, her clinical training has included:

• Specialty training in nuclear medicine including diagnostic PET-CT and SPECT-CT imaging across the cancer-imaging portfolio (FDG, Ga-68 PSMA, Ga-68 DOTATATE, F-18 PSMA, Tc-99m bone scan, I-123 and I-131 thyroid imaging).
• Radioligand therapy training in the protocols underpinning Lu-177 PSMA-617, Lu-177 DOTATATE, Y-90 TARE, I-131 (thyroid), and Ra-223 — including treatment planning, EANM-aligned procedure delivery, dosimetry, and post-therapy SPECT and biochemistry monitoring.
• AERB credentialing for therapeutic use of radioactive substances at licensed centres operating under Safety Code SC-2 (Rev. 2).
• Continued professional development through Indian and international nuclear medicine society programmes and EANM and SNMMI guideline updates.

Areas of clinical focus

Dr. Sen's clinical practice is organised around five established radioligand therapy areas, each with its own eligibility pathway, evidence base, and patient-management protocol^[4]:

Beyond therapy delivery, her diagnostic-imaging focus covers Ga-68 PSMA PET, Ga-68 DOTATATE PET, FDG PET, F-18 PSMA, and Tc-99m bone scan — the imaging modalities that underpin eligibility for the corresponding therapies and that support response assessment afterwards.

Society memberships and professional network

Dr. Sen maintains active membership in the Indian and international professional societies that govern nuclear medicine and theranostic practice^[5]:

• Society of Nuclear Medicine, India (SNMI) — the principal Indian professional society for nuclear medicine consultants, supporting continuing professional development and policy engagement.
• Indian College of Nuclear Medicine — society representing nuclear medicine practice across India with alignment to EANM and SNMMI procedure guidelines.
• European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) — the principal European nuclear medicine society; EANM procedure guidelines are the primary international reference for Lu-177 PSMA, Lu-177 DOTATATE, and Y-90 TARE protocol delivery.
• Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) — the US-based international society for nuclear medicine and theranostic practice; SNMMI procedure standards complement EANM guidelines in international practice.

These memberships connect Dr. Sen's practice at FMRI to the international evidence base and to peer practice in the highest-volume theranostic centres worldwide, supporting alignment with published procedure standards.

Clinical approach and decision framework

The clinical approach Dr. Sen brings to nuclear medicine therapy is characterised by structured decision-making at four points in every patient pathway^[6]:

• Eligibility review — every patient is assessed for clinical and biological eligibility for the proposed therapy. Eligibility is anchored to imaging (Ga-68 PSMA PET, Ga-68 DOTATATE PET, multiphasic CT/MRI for TARE), pathology, organ reserve (kidney, marrow, liver), prior treatment exposure, and performance status. The decision is multidisciplinary, not single-physician.
• Procedure planning — for each therapy, the procedure plan is documented: target tumour-absorbed dose, prescribed activity, renal protection regimen for PRRT, mapping angiography for TARE, anti-emetic and supportive care, post-administration imaging, inter-cycle monitoring schedule.
• Informed consent — explicit written discussion of expected benefit (based on published trial data for the relevant patient cohort), expected side effects, alternative pathways, and the limitations of the proposed therapy. For investigational settings (e.g., Ac-225 in selected prostate cancer indications), the Helsinki framework applies in full and explicit declaration of investigational status is required.
• Continuing care handover — structured discharge documentation, treatment-summary letter to referring oncologist, imaging copy, biochemistry summary, radiation-safety instructions, scheduled follow-up. For international patients, the handover specifically supports the home oncologist's continuing role.

This four-point structure is consistent across her clinical work — across prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumours, hepatobiliary cancer, and thyroid cancer.

Areas of published expertise

Dr. Sen's clinical contributions are oriented around the established radioligand therapy areas summarised above. Her published-expertise areas align with the major Indian and international nuclear medicine cohorts in:

• Lu-177 PSMA-617 radioligand therapy in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer — delivery, response assessment, dosimetric considerations, and integration with concurrent androgen-pathway inhibitor and androgen-deprivation therapy.
• Lu-177 DOTATATE PRRT in well-differentiated gastroenteropancreatic and bronchopulmonary neuroendocrine tumours — patient selection on Ga-68 DOTATATE PET, treatment delivery, response patterns, and retreatment considerations.
• Y-90 transarterial radioembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma — including radiation segmentectomy and personalised dosimetry approaches, and the bridge-to-transplant role discussed in our companion TARE bridge article.
• Indian nuclear medicine practice context — the AERB regulatory framework, BRIT indigenous Lu-177 supply, and the structural considerations that distinguish Indian practice from European and US settings.

Indian nuclear medicine cohort data have been published from centres including AIIMS New Delhi (Yadav and colleagues), Tata Memorial / BARC (Basu and colleagues), and the broader Indian College of Nuclear Medicine network — and Dr. Sen's clinical work at FMRI sits within this published-Indian-experience context^[7].

Approach to international and referred patients

For international patients and patients referred from elsewhere in India, Dr. Sen's clinical approach follows a structured remote eligibility-review pathway before any travel^[8]:

• Document review — submitted imaging (DICOM-level, not just radiology reports), histopathology, biochemistry, treatment history, performance status, current medication list.
• Multidisciplinary tumour board discussion — eligibility decisions are made at FMRI tumour board rather than by single physician, with input from medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiology, and gastroenterology / urology / hepatology as appropriate to the clinical question.
• Written eligibility outcome — communicated to the patient and to the patient's home oncologist explicitly in writing, with one of three outcomes: eligible, conditionally eligible, or not appropriate (with documented reasoning and alternative-pathway suggestions).
• Pre-travel coordination — clarification of imaging currency, biochemistry currency, medication continuity, expected stay duration, and post-treatment handover plan, before the patient travels.
• On-arrival workflow — initial consultation, MDT confirmation, treatment delivery, post-therapy imaging, structured discharge with full documentation copy to home oncologist.

For the full international-patient pathway see our companion medical travel pathway guide.

What this means for patients and referring oncologists

For patients and for referring oncologists considering referral to FMRI nuclear medicine, the practical implications of Dr. Sen's clinical approach are:

• Eligibility is conservative. The structured multidisciplinary review process is designed to identify the patients most likely to benefit, and to identify patients for whom alternative pathways would be more appropriate. Eligibility outcomes are documented in writing rather than communicated only verbally.
• Treatment is protocol-aligned. Lu-177 PSMA, Lu-177 DOTATATE, Y-90 TARE, I-131, and Ra-223 are all delivered under EANM-aligned procedure guidelines and AERB Safety Code SC-2 (Rev. 2) licence conditions. There are no improvised or unsourced protocols.
• The referring oncologist retains the central role. Continuing care after treatment delivery sits with the patient's referring oncologist, supported by structured handover from FMRI. International patients return to their home oncologist with full documentation.
• Investigational use is explicitly declared. For investigational settings (Ac-225 PSMA-617 in selected indications, Tb-161 PSMA-617 emerging evidence), Helsinki investigational-status framing is explicit and informed consent is rigorous.
• Outcome data are referenced to published trials. Expected benefit and side-effect profiles in informed-consent discussions are anchored to the relevant published trial data (VISION, TheraP, NETTER-1, NETTER-2, LEGACY, DOSISPHERE-01, ALSYMPCA), with explicit acknowledgement that individual outcomes vary.

Review and authorship process for this blog

Articles published on nuclearmedicinetherapy.in are authored under the editorial oversight of the FMRI nuclear medicine clinical team. The blog operates under a structured review process designed to support patient-facing accuracy and to align all clinical claims with the underlying evidence base^[9]:

• Authorship: Dr. Ishita B. Sen — Director and Head of Nuclear Medicine and PET-CT, FMRI Gurugram — is listed as primary author of all clinical content. Author attribution is reflected in BlogPosting structured-data schema across the blog.
• Clinical review: All clinical claims, trial citations, and procedure descriptions are reviewed by Dr. Dharmender Malik, who is listed as reviewedBy in BlogPosting schema on each article. The reviewer attribution is visible on each article as well as embedded in structured data.
• Citation standard: Every numeric clinical claim (trial result, hazard ratio, response rate, median survival, regulatory approval date) is sourced to a peer-reviewed publication, regulatory filing, or established guideline document with a public URL — typical citation counts are 30+ per article.
• Audit governance: The blog operates under explicit content-audit governance that prevents promotional framing (no cure claims, no commercial superlatives, no guaranteed-outcome language, no displacement of pluralistic decision-making by single-pathway promotion).
• Investigational-status declarations: Articles on investigational therapies (Ac-225, Tb-161) include explicit Helsinki-framework declarations of investigational status and discussion of alternatives.
• Conflict of interest: Editorial oversight is institutional. All articles disclose that nuclearmedicinetherapy.in is operated by Theranostic Physicians Private Limited (TPPL) — the corporate entity coordinating the clinical programme at FMRI — and that the website supports FMRI patient pathways.

How to reach the FMRI nuclear medicine team

For new patient enquiries, referring oncologist coordination, or international eligibility review, the FMRI nuclear medicine team's primary contact channel is documented as^[10]:

• WhatsApp / call: +91 8800 988936 — for initial patient enquiries and referral discussions. Routing into the nuclear medicine programme is handled by the clinical coordination team.
• Multidisciplinary tumour board review: requested through the contact channel above with submission of relevant clinical records (imaging, pathology, biochemistry, treatment history).
• International patient eligibility review: processed remotely on submitted documents per the structured five-stage pathway described in our medical travel pathway guide.
• Cost transparency: for indicative cost information on radioligand therapy in INR see our dedicated Lu-177 PSMA cost considerations and India vs international cost comparison articles.

All clinical decisions remain multidisciplinary. The contact channel is the entry point, not a substitute for the formal eligibility review pathway.

The bottom line

• Dr. Ishita B. Sen is Director and Head of Nuclear Medicine and PET-CT at Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurugram — leading a theranostic clinical programme covering both diagnostic imaging and radioligand therapy^[1].
• Clinical focus areas: Lu-177 PSMA-617 (mCRPC), Lu-177 DOTATATE PRRT (NETs), Y-90 TARE (liver malignancies), I-131 (thyroid cancer), Ra-223 (bone-metastatic CRPC) — each with established evidence base and procedure-guideline alignment^[4].
• Practice operates under multidisciplinary tumour board structure, EANM-aligned procedure guidelines, AERB Safety Code SC-2 (Rev. 2) licensure, and DCGI / CDSCO radiopharmaceutical regulation^[2].
• Clinical approach is structured around four points in every pathway: eligibility review, procedure planning, informed consent, continuing-care handover. Investigational use is explicitly declared under Helsinki framework^[6].
• Professional society memberships include Society of Nuclear Medicine India, Indian College of Nuclear Medicine, EANM, and SNMMI — connecting practice at FMRI to international evidence base and peer practice^[5].
• For international patients, structured remote eligibility review is conducted before travel; on-arrival workflow follows the five-stage pathway documented in the companion medical-travel guide^[8].
• Blog editorial process: Dr. Ishita B. Sen as primary author, Dr. Dharmender Malik as clinical reviewer (reflected in BlogPosting structured data), 30+ peer-reviewed citations per clinical article, audit governance preventing promotional framing^[9].