 Radioactive samarium-153 is a beta emitter with a half-life of 46.3 hours. It is used to kill cancer cells in the treatment of lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and osteosarcoma. For this purpose, samarium-153 is chelated with ethylene diamine tetramethylene phosphonate (EDTMP) and injected intravenously. The chelation prevents accumulation of radioactive samarium in the body that would result in excessive irradiation and generation of new cancer cells. The corresponding drug has several names including samarium (153Sm) lexidronam; its trade name is Quadramet.
