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Providing AccurateTreatment Throughout the Body
Sound Cancer Care strives to be at the forefront of radiation therapy. As part of that effort, we offer various radioligand therapies (RTL). Also referred to as radiopharmaceuticals, RTL is a specialized therapy that combines radioactive materials with specific agents that target particular tissues or cellular receptors. Therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals contain radioactive material that destroy cancerous cells. These compounds treat certain cancers and other diseases by delivering targeted radiation directly to affected cells, minimizing exposure to healthy tissue.
How Radioligand Therapy Work
Radioligand therapy is often used to manage prostate cancer, bone metastases, and neuroendocrine tumors. By concentrating radiation in the area of disease, this therapy helps to reduce tumor size, relieve symptoms, and improve patient outcomes.
Radioligand treatment is carried out in a controlled environment under the guidance of a multidisciplinary team who monitors the patient’s progress and adjusts dosage as necessary. This therapy is typically well tolerated, with side effects that vary based on the specific drug. It is part of a growing field in nuclear medicine, offering a targeted approach that complements traditional therapies like chemotherapy and external beam radiation therapy.
Radioligand therapies have 2 key parts that are joined together by a chemical:
1)A radioisotope (ray-dee-o-ice-o-tope)
a radioactive particle that releases radiation to target cells, destroying them
2) A targeting ligand that
attaches to cells that express specific targets, directing the radioisotope to cells with these targets
How do radioligand therapies work?
This innovative treatment approach is administered through an intravenous infusion and combines
the power of radioisotopes with a target-seeking ligand to deliver radiation to cancer cells
expressing a specific target, even when they have spread throughout the body. With RLT, the goal
is to deliver the treatment to the target cells to damage or destroy those cells while limiting
impact to surrounding cells.
How are radioligand therapies made?
Manufacturing new radioligand therapies requires a deep understanding of medicine, chemistry,
physics, and biology. Special manufacturing and transportation are required to develop and ship
this type of treatment. Because radioligand therapies lose their strength over time, the therapy has
a limited timeframe of when it can be used, and each dose must get to the patient within a few
days of being produced. This timing adds to the complexity. The whole process takes about 14 days
Step 1: Diagnosis
As exciting as radioligand therapy is, it is not suitable for every patient. At Sound Cancer Care, patients will first meet with a radiation oncologist to discuss their medical history and current condition to determine whether radiotheranostics is the right path to pursue. If it is, the radiation oncologist will order the injection of the radioactive tracer and imaging scans.
The first step in radioligand therapy is accurate cancer diagnosis. To do so, patients are imaged with a technique called radiotheranostics. Radioactive compounds are designed specifically to bind to cancer cells. When they are injected into the body, they go to the source of the cancer.
Once the radioactive tracers are in the body, they emit signals that can be picked up by advanced imaging machines. This enables our radiation oncologists to see exactly where the cancer is located, and how much of it there is. The clarity and detail of the images picked up by Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans with the aid of radioactive tracers in the body are superior to traditional imaging methods. With this technology, we can identify even small clusters of cancer cells.
Step 2: Treatment
Once the cancer has been diagnosed, the radioactive tracers inside the body can then be used to treat it. The radioactive compounds deliver precise doses of radiation directly to cancer cells, sparing surrounding healthy tissue. This precision not only maximizes the effectiveness of radioligand therapy, but it also minimizes side effects.
Radioligand Therapy for Prostate Cancer Treatment
At Sound Cancer Care we offer radiopharmaceuticals such as Pluvicto and Xofigo for the treatment of prostate cancer. A combination of the terms “radiotherapy” and “pharmaceutical,” these are advanced prostate cancer treatment technologies that can be used to find and treat prostate cancer throughout the body.
Radioligand Therapy for Neuroendocrine Tumors
Neuroendocrine tumors are rare cancers arising from hormone-producing cells. Gastroenteropancreatic NETs (GEP-NETs) originate in the gastrointestinal tract or pancreas, often growing slowly but secreting hormones that disrupt body functions. Radiolignad therapy targets these tumors with radioactive molecules, delivering radiation directly to cancer cells, reducing tumors, and minimizing damage to healthy tissues.