The metastasis of cancer cells to the bone is called cancer bone metastasis. Bone metastasis can occur in any cancer and sarcoma, the common ones are breast cancer, lung cancer, thyroid cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer and cervical cancer. After the formation of metastatic bone tumor, most patients will experience unbearable pain, and it is mostly persistent and severe, which seriously affects sleep and diet, and patients often die due to exhaustion. In addition, if bone metastasis occurs in vertebrae, it may cause paraplegia; if it occurs in limbs, there will be limb movement disorder and even pathological fracture, which will significantly reduce the quality of life of patients. Yang Hui, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Henan Cancer Hospital
The consequences of cancer bone metastasis are so serious, what are the ways to “subdue” them? At present, besides external irradiation and anesthetics, radionuclide therapy can also be used. Radionuclides, such as strontium-89, rhenium-188, samarium-153, etc., are tumor-friendly, and their radioactivity in the lesion is 16-25 times higher than that of normal bone tissue, and their beta-rays can irradiate metastatic bone tumors at a higher dose to achieve pain relief and kill cancer cells without damaging normal bone tissue.
Radionuclide treatment for metastatic bone tumors is extremely harmless to human body, and only has the side effect of mildly reducing white blood cells and platelets, but after one month. The reduced white blood cells and platelets can recover on their own after one month.
Radionuclide therapy for metastatic bone tumors can be performed in outpatient clinic. In combination with chemotherapy. For those who are treated with chemotherapy, radionuclide therapy should be administered two weeks after the end of chemotherapy; for those who are treated with phosphate drugs, radionuclide therapy should be administered 10 days after the end of drug therapy. In addition, after one course of radionuclide treatment, if the blood routine is normal, the treatment can be repeated.
The observed results of nuclide treatment for bone metastases are as follows: ① It has a fairly good analgesic effect on the pain caused by bone cancer, and the pain relief rate is about 90%. For those who are not treated by other methods, nuclide treatment still has a good analgesic effect; ② The β-rays of nuclide can kill tumor cells, and the bone metastasis lesions shrink or disappear in 32.4% of cases in one treatment.