“How can nuclear medicine best treat cancers?”

NM is different from radiation oncology which delivers radiation to the tumors from usually an external source. The classic use of NM to treat cancer is the use of Iodine 131 to treat thyroid cancer. Radioactive I is taken up by normal tissue and cancer tissue. Generally, the patient has his/her thyroid removed and any remaining tissue/tumor is ablated with radioactive I. Other forms of treatment use either an antibody or receptor approach. The antibody labeled with a radioactive substance goes to the tumor cells and hits them with fatal radioactivity. This has been used for years for lymphoma therapy. Receptor based therapy is used to treat neuroendocrine tumors. Lutetium is used to provide radioactivity to the tumor. New therapies against prostate cancer antigens will soon be available using Lutetium as well. Radioactive Radium is given intravenously to treat prostate cancer bone metastases. It also kills some nerve endings helping to relieve pain.