In terms of clinical course, prostate cancer is a relatively favorable disease. It is well treatable even at the advanced stages. However, sooner or later the disease reaches that stage when chemotherapy is ineffective and various organs are affected by metastatic foci. In such situations, lutetium 177 PSMA radionuclide therapy comes to the rescue.
The treatment involves the use of lutetium-177 labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen, hence the name, PSMA therapy.
Radionuclide substance gives off radiation, but it is very short – only a few millimeters. This substance should destroy not only the primary tumor, but also metastatic foci of prostate cancer.
A radiopharmaceutical is administered to the patient intravenously. It accumulates only in tumor cells, while the healthy ones get just a minimal amount, so they are almost not damaged. With its action, lutetium-177 destroys cancer cells. As a result, the size of the primary tumor lesion is significantly reduced and most metastases disappear.
PSMA therapy is used in advanced prostate cancer. It is prescribed in the presence of multiple distant metastases. Indeed, the main advantage of the method is that it is not necessary to know the exact location of prostate cancer foci. It is impossible to detect them all and remove, but systemic therapies can affect cancer cells, regardless of their location.
PSMA therapy is an alternative to chemotherapy. It is prescribed in the following situations:
The radiopharmaceutical is injected into the patient's vein slowly using a syringe. This is the whole procedure. Additional drugs may be used to reduce the risk of complications and reduce side effects.
During the course of treatment, the person is in a screened ward, as he is a source of beta radiation. The patient is allowed to take personal belongings to the ward. They will not become radioactive and can be used in the future.
A day after the introduction of lutetium-177 the patient will undergo scintigraphy. This is a follow-up study, which allows for the evaluation of the treatment results. 10 days later, the person will come to the clinic again and undergo a repeated study.
There are usually carried out several sessions of PSMA therapy. On average, the patient undergoes three treatment cycles. The intervals between them are 8 weeks. Monitoring is provided through PET, PSA blood test, general clinical studies. The doctors also control liver, kidney, bone marrow function.
Prostate cancer treatment with lutetium-177 is a relatively safe treatment method. It does not cause irreversible complications. The doctors carefully monitor the condition of the patient and those for whom therapy can be harmful are not allowed to undergo it. If prostate cancer is treated using this therapy, the doctors carefully monitor that the damage to healthy tissues was minimal. To this end, the following measures are taken:
Treatment of the disease with lutetium can cause side effects. The most frequent of them are nausea, swelling of the oral mucosa, impaired swallowing and difficulty speaking. All these side effects are temporary.
The complications may include liver, kidney dysfunction, as well as inhibition of the hematopoietic function of the red bone marrow. In order to timely identify the emerging complications, the patient is constantly undergoing clinical and biochemical blood tests. These tests are conducted before starting prostate cancer treatment, as well as after each session.
The prostate cancer treatment with lutetium is provided in the best clinics abroad. Many patients go to Germany to get highly qualified and high-tech medical care for malignant tumors. Booking Health can arrange this for you. Our services and benefits:
Booking Health will provide high quality services. Our employees will book airline tickets for you, choose the hotel closest to the medical facility, meet you at the airport and take you to the clinic by car.
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