Most people associate the word “cancer” with death.
Indeed, in countries with a low level of medicine, doctors are practically powerless against stage 4 cancer.
Developed countries, however, offer the latest treatments that can increase life expectancy by several years and sometimes cure prostate cancer completely.
Even when chemotherapy and hormone therapy do not work, you can undergo Lutetium treatment for cancer in Germany to achieve many years of cancer remission.
What is PSMA therapy?
Cancer treatment in Germany at the advanced stages is usually carried out with the help of chemotherapy and hormone therapy, and in some patients, immunotherapy and targeted therapy can be used.
But sooner or later, the medications stop working and the tumor starts to grow again.
Previously, in such situations, doctors switched to symptomatic treatment. But recently, a technique has emerged that can achieve excellent results even in such patients.
Lutetium 177 therapy in Germany helps to reduce the primary tumor and its metastases, and sometimes leads to their complete disappearance.
This is a method of radiotargeted therapy. Doctors inject a patient with a radiopharmaceutical that accumulates in cancer cells and affects them with radiation.
The drug consists of two components, namely, a ligand capable of binding to PSMA (prostate-specific membrane antigen) and a radioactive substance.
PSMA is found in large quantities in cancer cells, but it is almost absent in normal tissues, which provides a selective effect of the drug on tumors.
Lutetium 177 is delivered to them. This radioactive substance gives short beta radiation, which destroys neoplasms but does not spread deep into the tissues.
The drug works only for a few days, and then is excreted from the body.
How is PSMA therapy performed?
A treatment program usually lasts three days. On the first day, a patient is examined, tests are taken, and PSMA-PET is performed to assess the spread of the tumor process.
The radiopharmaceutical is then slowly injected intravenously. Doctors cool the patient’s salivary glands and inject saline solutions intravenously to avoid any side effects from the salivary glands and kidneys.
Within 3 days after the administration of the drug, a person stays at the hospital. A patient is then discharged from the hospital after the drug is excreted from their bodies.
The injection of the radiopharmaceutical is repeated every 4-8 weeks. After 1-2 cycles, doctors usually record the patient’s response to treatment (reduction of tumors), which increases with each subsequent injection.
What results can be expected?
Most patients have a complete or partial response to Lutetium treatment. A partial response means a decrease in tumor size by a third or more. With a complete response, all tumors disappear.
The complete response does not mean that the cancer is cured, as it may recur in the future. However, cases have already been described where cancer did not recur for many years after several cycles of Lutetium therapy.
Theoretically, it can recur decades later, but it is likely that a long absence of recurrence means that the cancer is cured.
Even if the cancer cannot be completely cured, the reduction of tumors and the stabilization of their size lead to an improvement in the quality of life of patients.
Life expectancy increases by years, and in situations where no other treatment method is no longer effective.
You can travel abroad for cancer treatment with PSMA therapy. You are welcome to visit the Booking Health website.
The website presents the best clinics for Lutetium treatment in Germany.
On our website, you can also compare Lutetium 177 treatment prices at different medical centers to make your treatment appointment at the hospital at the best price.
The specialists from the Booking Health company will help you to select a medical facility and take care of the arrangements for your trip.
(Image by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free)
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