Radium-223 dichloride: a new paradigm in the treatment of prostate cancer

• Published in: Expert review of anticancer therapy Vol. 15; no. 3; p. 339
• Main Authors: Anido Herranz, Urbano, Fernández Calvo, Ovidio, Afonso Afonso, Francisco Javier, Rodríguez Martínez de Llano, Sofía, Lázaro Quintela, Martín, León Mateos, Luis, Vázquez Estévez, Sergio, Antón Aparicio, Luis Miguel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.03.2015
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Bone Neoplasms - pathology; Bone Neoplasms - secondary; Humans; Male; Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant - drug therapy; Prostatic Neoplasms, Castration-Resistant - pathology; Radioisotopes - therapeutic use; Radium - therapeutic use; Survival Rate; radium-223; bone metastases; radiopharmaceuticals; prostate cancer; alpha-emitters
• ISSN: 1744-8328
• DOI: 10.1586/14737140.2015.999045

Radionuclides have been widely used for cancer treatment. Recently, new research about radium-223 dichloride has been conducted in prostate cancer, which reveals that it is the first radiopharmaceutical to demonstrate an improvement in overall survival and time to first symptomatic skeletal event in patients with castration resistant prostate cancer with symptomatic bone metastases. This fact has created a new paradigm in the treatment of prostate cancer landscape, where only chemotherapy and hormone therapy had a role, while β-emitters had been confined exclusively to the role of pain relief with no impact on survival. The aim of this review is to outline current treatment approaches for advanced prostate cancer with a focus on the role of radium-223 dichloride, reviewing patients' profile that make them suitable to therapy and chances for further studies.