Bone cancer patients can now reduce their dependence on analgesics - an alternative method of pain management is now available.
The radiopharmaceutical Quadramet® greatly improves the quality of life of patients in the advanced stages of breast or prostate cancer who have developed secondary cancers in the bone. Quadramet®, recently listed in the Medicare Benefits Schedule book, will now be within the means of all Australians.
Manufactured under licence by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Quadramet®s significant pain relief that can last for about 16 weeks with one injection.
There are around 10,000 new cases of breast cancer and 3,000 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed in Australia each year. The rate of secondary cancers is declining, thanks to earlier diagnosis and treatment, but breast cancer patients still have a 50 per cent chance of the disease spreading. The figure for prostate cancer stands at 20 per cent.
About 20 per cent of all referrals for radiotherapy in Australia are for palliative bone pain relief. Eighty per cent of those cases involve the spread to the bone of breast, prostate or lung cancer. Quadramet has two components - a carrier molecule that seeks out bone cancer sites, and a radioactive material, or tag, that kills the dividing cells in the tumours.
The carrier molecule is similar to the minerals taken up by the body to form or repair bone. Basically, it zeros in on sites where bone is being repaired and delivers to the adjacent tumour cells beta radiation, which kills them.
Quadramet® has had great success in relieving pain in bone cancer sufferers, said Dr Stuart Carr, Director of ANSTOs Radiopharmaceuticals Division.
"Clinical trials are under way at the Royal Brisbane Hospital on the use of Quadramet in this area," he went on to say.