Expert Thanks to a range of new treatments, including cutting edge radiopharmaceuticals, cancer sufferers can look forward to prolonged periods of disease control and improved quality of life. This is the message from an international expert on the management of cancer using radiopharmaceutical therapy, Professor Sandy McEwan, currently visiting Melbourne from the Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta. Professor McEwan said that radiopharmaceutical treatments are having a dramatic effect on quality of life and control of symptoms for people living with cancer.
Radiopharmaceuticals have a chemical attraction to specific cancers.
Research shows that they can be used safely on multiple occasions controlling symptoms and stabilising disease. The evidence is that bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals such as Quadramet can significantly reduce pain and analgesic requirements. They can improve quality of life and reduce lifetime radiotherapy requirements and management costs, and may slow the progression of painful lesions. One injection can provide pain relief for up to 16 weeks for patients with cancer that has spread to bone. The carrier molecule in Quadramet is similar to the minerals taken up by the body to form or repair bone.