REVIEW  BONE METASTASES IN THE ERA OF TARGETED TREATMENTS 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2019 June;63(2):159-69

DOI: 10.23736/S1824-4785.19.03177-7

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Leveraging the power of non-radium radionuclide treatments in bone metastases

Pradeep THAPA ^{1, 2}, Sandip BASU ^{1, 2} ✉

¹ Radiation Medicine Center, Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Tata Memorial Hospital Annexe, Parel, Mumbai, India; ² Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India

This review overviews the current status and clinical results of unsealed radionuclide therapies in skeletal metastasis. The other modes of treatment such as external bean radiotherapy and the newer receptor targeted radiopharmaceuticals tagged to alpha and beta particle emitting radionuclides have also been touched upon. With the advent of the latter in recent years, the intravenously administered radiopharmaceuticals that can be employed in the setting of skeletal metastases can be broadly categorized into (i) bone-seeking and (ii) receptor targeted specific tumor-seeking radiopharmaceuticals. The second category conceptualizes the “radionuclide based theranostics” and “precision oncology” and has the additional advantage of targeting both skeletal and non-skeletal disease and being the preferred therapy befitting the contemporary paradigm of clinical oncology.

KEY WORDS: Neoplasm metastasis; Bone and bones; Pain; Palliative care