Retrospective analysis of xofigo treatments

Conclusions: Less than half of the patients in this study completed the full series of 6 injections, with patient death being the leading cause for premature termination of treatment. Furthermore, half the patients that died during treatment received 2 injections or less. These findings suggests that referrals for this treatment may be coming too late in the course of the patient’s disease course. Rising PSA levels was the second most common cause for treatment discontinuation. In patients who had both PSA and ALP levels monitored during treatment, PSA remained stable or increased in 83% of the patients who completed 3 or more injections while 73% had decreasing ALP levels. This suggests that ALP levels could potentially be a better marker of treatment response than PSA; however, no definitive conclusion can be drawn due to small size of this study. These findings are of relevance because the clinical (survival, etc.) benefit of less than 6 injections has not been established, and incomplete treatment could potentially lead to more harm than benefit.
Source: Journal of Nuclear Medicine - Category: Nuclear Medicine Authors: Tags: Technologist Student Papers I Source Type: research