Radionuclide therapy for bone metastases from malignant tumors

The incidence of bone metastasis in malignant tumors is high. 50% of patients with breast cancer will have bone metastasis, 80% of patients with prostate cancer will have bone metastasis, and others such as lung cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and thyroid cancer will have bone metastasis. About 50% of patients with metastatic tumors have bone pain symptoms, and most of them are refractory bone pain, which is difficult to control even with external irradiation, chemotherapy and narcotic analgesic drugs. By using intravenous injection of osteophilic radiopharmaceuticals, a high concentration appears at the site of bone metastasis, and the beta radiation emitted by radionuclides can irradiate the tumor to achieve pain relief and destruction of tumor tissue. There are many radiopharmaceuticals that can work, and the ones that are more used now and internationally recognized are strontium-89 (89SrCl2) and samarium-153 (153Sm-EDTMP). After intravenous injection, it can combine with hydroxyapatite in bones and emit pure β-rays, which has the best effect on bone metastasis of prostate cancer and breast cancer, and the analgesic effect can be maintained for 3-6 months without causing damage to hematopoietic system. After the treatment, the general condition of patients is improved, the quality of sleep is improved, the mobility of limbs is improved and the amount of narcotic analgesics is reduced. Other Yunque (99Tc-MDP) also has some therapeutic effect.