Dr. Nikita Sampathirao

OP Timings:

Qualification / Education:

• DNB – Nuclear Medicine - Apollo Hospitals, Chennai
• Diploma in Radiation Medicine (DRM) - Radiation Medicine Centre, BARC (Homi Bhabha National Institute)
• MBBS - Medical College & Hospital, Sangli (Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune)

Clinical Experience in Nuclear Medicine:

• Dealt with thyroid OPD (history taking, physical examination and prescription of thyroid drugs) consisting of plentiful cases of hypothyroidism, thyrotoxicosis and carcinoma thyroid.
• Selected and prescribed appropriate radionuclides and dosages for administration.
• Evaluation and therapy in numerous cases of Neuroendocrine tumours with PRRT. Injection of 177Lu-DOTATATE and Ac225-DOTATATE and monitoring of patients post PRRT
• Administration of 131I-NaI (maximum dose given to a patient is 250 mCi) and monitoring of patients  in cases of carcinoma thyroid and thyrotoxicosis
• Handling and administration of 131I-MIBG and 153Sm/177Lu-EDTMP in cases of neural crest tumours and extensive skeletal metastasis for bone pain palliation respectively.
• Treatment for castration resistant prostate cancer with 177Lu-PSMA.
• TARE with Y90-Sirspheres in hepatocellular carcinomas 
• An apprenticeship of 6 months in nuclear medicine technology (SPECT and PET), health physics, medical cyclotron, radioimmunoassay and radiopharmacy at Radiation Medicine Centre, BARC
• Handling, preparation and injection of various 99mTc, 18F and 68Ga radiopharmaceuticals.
• Acquiring and reporting a wide range of SPECT scans with 99mTc-labelled and 131I radiopharmaceuticals.
• Obtaining and detailing of PET/CT scans (with 18F-FDG, 18F-NaF, 68Ga-DOTATATE, 18F-FMISO, 18F-FLT, 18F-FET, 68Ga-DOTA-Exendin, 68Ga- PSMA etc) in numerous oncological as well as non-oncological indications.
• Assisted with clean-up of radioactive spills and execution of decontamination activities.

Experience:

• Consultant & In-Charge – Nuclear Medicine - Vijaya Medical Centre, Visakhapatnam
• Registrar – Nuclear Medicine - Apollo Hospitals, Chennai
• Senior Resident – Nuclear Medicine - Apollo Hospitals, Chennai
• Registrar – Nuclear Medicine - KEM Hospital, Mumbai
• Junior Resident – Radiation Medicine Centre - BARC
• Resident Medical Officer – Oncology - Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai
• Internship - KEM Hospital, Mumbai

Skills:

• Cardiac stress protocols
• Handling of radioactive substances as per established regulatory practices and procedures
• High dose therapies
• Reporting Onco-PET, Cardio- and neuro-PET

Achievements and Presentations:

• Fellow of European Board of Nuclear Medicine (FEBNM) in 2021. 
• Gold Medalist, DNB Nuclear Medicine, December session 2018
• Radiation Safety Officer (RSO II), December 2019
• Oral presentation: Role of FDG PET/CT in pediatric sarcoma in ANMPI conference November 2017
• Oral Presentation: Mib1 Index–Stratified Assessment of Dual-Tracer PET/CT with 68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-FDG and Multimodality Anatomic Imaging in Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumors of Unknown Primary Scheduled for Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, APNETS, October 2017 
• Oral Presentation: “Evaluation of Stiff Heart Syndrome with Tc99m-PyP scan and SPECT-CT”, ANMPICON October 2-3, 2020.
• Oral Presentation: Role of Quantification and SPECT-CT in lymphoscintigraphy, LYMPHOCON Nov 2024, Chennai

Research Experience:

• 2019-2020: Utility of dynamic and dual point FDG PET/CT in evaluation of hormonal status of breast cancer.
• 2017-2018: Evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of lymphoscintigraphy with combined quantitative and qualitative analysis
• 2014-2016: Dual Tracer PET-CT weighing 68Ga-DOTATATE and FDG in patients of Metastatic NET of Unknown Primary (CUP-NET) scheduled for PRRT: a comparative Mib1 index stratified subgroup analysis along with Conventional Modalities" (the "Work’)
• 2015-2016: Implications of increased FDG uptake in low grade NET patients posted for PRRT

Publications:

• Author in IRIA comprehensive textbook of clinical radiology – Volume I – Diagnostic Imaging of Lymphatic System, Volume V – Nuclear Medicine in Breast Imaging. 
• Sampathirao N, Indirani M, Manokaran G, Jaykanth A, Patel A, Simon S. Assessment of lymphedema with lymphoscintigraphy: Can nodal quantification help? Lymphology. 2021;54(2):92-105. PMID: 34735754.
• Patel A, Muthukrishnan I, Kurian A, Amalchandra J, Sampathirao N, Simon S. Multicentric primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in genitourinary tract detected on 18F-F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography: An uncommon presentation of a common malignancy. World J Nucl Med. 2020 Aug 22;20(1):117-120. doi: 10.4103/wjnm.WJNM_45_20. PMID: 33850502; PMCID: PMC8034790
• Nikita Sampathirao, Indirani M, Ann Kurien, Jaykanth A, Asra Patel, Shema Mathew, Shelley S, Incremental value of FDG PET/CT in Aggressive High grade B cell Lymphoma with TdT expression, AOJNMB, 10.22038/aojnmb.2020.48887.1332 
• Nikita Sampathirao, Indirani m, Shelley S, Primary Pancreatic Lymphoma camouflaged under the umbrella of NETs on SSTR imaging, World journal of nuclear Medicine, 10.4103/wjnm.WJNM_96_19 
• Amalchandran J, Sivathapandi T, Simon S, Elangoven I, Asra P, Rao NS, Nayak M., Cherubism: A Rare Fibro-Osseous Disorder Characterized and Diagnosed By one stop Imaging with Technetium-99m Methylene Diphosphonate Bone Scintigraphy Integrated with Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography-Computed Tomography. Indian J Nucl Med. 2019 Jan-Mar; 34(1): 62–65. doi: 10.4103/ijnm.IJNM_90_18
• Aadil Adnan, N Sampathirao, Basu S, Implications of FDG uptake in low-intermediate grade metastatic NETs from peptide receptor radionuclide therapy outcome viewpoint: A semi-quantitative standardized uptake value-based analysis
• N sampathirao, Basu S, Mib1 Index–Stratified Assessment of Dual-Tracer PET/CT with 68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-FDG and Multimodality Anatomic Imaging in Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumors of Unknown Primary Scheduled for Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, J Nucl Med Technol 2017; 45:1–8, DOI: 10.2967/jnmt.116.185777
• N Sampathirao, Basu S “Rare Occurrence Of Hypergastrinemia due to Thoracic Neuroendocrine Tumor: Detection and Characterization by 68Ga-DOTATATE PET-CT”, J. Nucl. Med. Technol. February 4, 2016jnmt.115.171603

Languages Known:

English, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi (Basics), and Tamil (Basics)