Bone cancer is divided into three categories: primary bone cancer, secondary bone cancer and metastatic bone cancer, of which metastatic bone cancer is the most common. This kind of bone cancer refers to cancer caused by malignant cancer cells that originate from other parts and transfer to bones through blood circulation or lymphatic system. Cancer patients are difficult to treat at the stage of metastatic bone cancer and usually die quickly.
Scientists in Germany and the United States published a paper in the Monthly Bulletin of Clinical Oncology published in August, saying that they made a new drug by using the radioisotope rhenium-188 hydroxyethylidene diphosphate (HEDP), which can emit higher-energy beta rays, partially destroy tumors while inhibiting tumor spread, and inhibit bone pain of patients.
Previously, doctors mostly used other types of radioisotope drugs to treat bone cancer, but the effect was not satisfactory. The researchers conducted a comparative experiment on 64 patients who had deteriorated from prostate cancer to metastatic bone cancer. The results show that the new drug can prolong the average time of tumor spread from 2.3 months to 7 months, and the average survival time of patients from 7 months to 65,438 02.7 months. Moreover, the side effects of the drug are small, and the bone pain of patients is obviously alleviated.
The researchers said in the paper that the new drug has been initially proved to be effective, but larger clinical trials are needed to put it into practice.