Prostate cancer can be cured with surgery or radiation therapy at stages 1, 2, and even 3. However, stage 4 prostate cancer causes the spread of distant metastases, so the cancer is considered disseminated because it has potentially spread throughout the body and local treatment methods can no longer cope with it.
Patients with advanced stages of prostate cancer are treated with hormone therapy and chemotherapy, and if even these methods fail to be effective, patients are treated with Lutetium PSMA in Germany. Let us explain to you what this method is and in what situations it can be used.
The essence of the procedure
Lutetium-177 therapy refers to systemic treatment methods. This means that it does not target a particular tumor but affects all tumors and cancer cells in the body.
Lutetium in medicine is used as a radionuclide. It accumulates in cancer cells and destroys them with radiation. The beta radiation that Lutetium-177 emits is very short, so it does not irradiate adjacent tissues. The drug is excreted from the body within a few days, and the patient no longer emits radioactive substances into the environment.
The selectivity of action of the radiopharmaceutical is provided through ligands. These molecules can bind to PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen). For this reason, the treatment is called PSMA therapy. Since PSMA is abundant only in cancer cells and most organs and tissues do not contain this protein at all, the radionuclide bound to ligands after an intravenous injection accumulates only in tumor foci. In fact, the drug detects all the tumors and destroys them.
When can Lutetium for prostate cancer be used?
So far, Lutetium-177 can only be used in severe cases where other methods have failed to improve the prognosis. Radiotargeted therapy is recommended in the following cases:
- Stage 4 prostate cancer.
- Presence of distant metastases.
- Castration-resistant cancer (hormone therapy is no longer effective).
- Lack of response to chemotherapy or development of unacceptable toxicity from the drugs used.
This method of cancer treatment is thus used in cases where doctors usually resort to symptomatic therapy.
How is the treatment carried out?
Initially, a patient undergoes a Lutetium PET scan, which helps to determine whether a tumor can accumulate a radionuclide and also shows the quantity, location, and size of tumors.
The radiopharmaceutical agent is then injected into the patient’s vein. Some clinics offer intravenous crystalloid therapy to lower the risk of kidney damage. Salivary gland cooling is also used to slow down blood flow and reduce the accumulation of the radiopharmaceutical agent. The salivary glands contain small amounts of PSMA and therefore may be affected during therapy. Approximately two-thirds of patients experience dry mouth, which is the most common side effect of PSMA therapy.
The patient stays at the hospital for 3-4 days. The next administration of the radiopharmaceutical agent is possible after 4-8 weeks. The therapy is continued as long as it remains effective.
Treatment results
Most patients benefit from Lutetium-177 therapy. Tumor foci significantly decrease in size after 1-2 therapy courses. Some patients achieve a complete response to treatment, as a result of which all tumors disappear and are no longer detected by imaging diagnostics.
If you want to find out the cost of Lutetium treatment in Germany, choose the best clinic for treatment of prostate cancer, and get a medical care program at a favorable price, you should visit the Booking Health website, which presents leading German Cancer Centers. The Booking Health specialists will help you find the most suitable clinic and take care of all the arrangements for your trip.
