Nuclear Medicine Therapy is a branch of radiology that examines organ function and structure using very small amounts of radioactive materials, called radiopharmaceuticals.
Hyperthyroidism, Thyroid Cancer, Lymphomas, and Bone Cancer are selective disorders that can be treated with nuclear medicine techniques.
The amount of radioactive substance used in diagnosing diseases varies depending on the individual’s needs and can range from a small amount to a large amount.
What Is Targeted Alpha Therapy?
Targeted Alpha Therapy works by combining alpha-particle emitting radioisotopes with tumor-specific carrier molecules such as Monoclonal Antibodies or Peptides.
These chemicals have the potential to target tumor cells specifically, even if they are widely dispersed throughout the body.
Targeted Alpha – PSMA Treatment Cost in India
Targeted Alpha – PSMA Treatment Cost in India starts from 9000 USD. India has some of the best treatment prices when compared with other countries in the entire world and it’s due to highly experienced and trained specialists in various hospitals. Also, the cost of the treatment will depend on the type of treatment you have.
Factors That Can Affect Targeted Alpha – PSMA Treatment Cost in India
- The hospital, the patient chooses.
- Type of room you choose.
- The price of the needed post-procedure care
- Standard tests and diagnostic procedures.
- Fee for the team of doctors.
Alpha-PSMA Therapy
Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment in which medications are used to target specific genes and proteins involved in cancer cell growth and survival.
Alpha PSMA Therapy, which incorporates alpha-emitting radioisotopes such as Actinium 225, is a safe and effective procedure with no or small adverse effects.
Targeted Alpha-PSMA Therapy, also known as Magic Bullet therapy, is highly selective and has the ability to transform the way metastatic prostate cancer is treated in the future.
Targeted therapy can disrupt the tissue environment that assists cancer survival and growth, and it may even target cancer-related cells including blood vessel cells.
Who Are the Experts?
Nuclear oncology experts are a devoted group of Nuclear Medicine Physicians, Dosimetrists, Radiation oncologists, and Technicians with considerable experience in Nuclear Medicine Therapies and diagnostics.
What is Actinium-225?
Actinium is a chemical element that has the symbol Ac and the atomic number 89. Actinium is a soft, silvery-white radioactive metal that reacts quickly with oxygen and moisture in the air to generate a white covering of actinium oxide that protects it from further oxidation.
Actinium-225 or Ac-225 is one of the isotopes of the Actinium element. It is an intermediary decay product in the neptunium series, decaying alpha to francium-221 with a half-life of 10 days.
The decay attributes of actinium-225 make it suitable for targeted alpha treatment (TAT); clinical experiments have also shown that radiopharmaceuticals containing 225Ac can be used to treat a variety of cancers.
The following are the main characteristics of the alpha particles produced by Ac-225:
- Limited range in the tissue of a few cell diameters
- Rapid linear energy transfer results in extensive radiation damage along each alpha track.
- A half-life of 10 days
- Four net alpha particles emitted for every disintegration
- Targeting Ac-225 drug constructs have potential in the treatment of cancer.
Mechanism of Work
In Target Alpha-PSMA therapy, a radioactive atom is binded to a drug molecule. The medicine is then put into the bloodstream, where it can directly attach to cancer cells. The medication can detect the presence of a chemical called prostate-specific membrane antigen, which can be used to identify these cells (PSMA)
In patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, targeted alpha treatment (TAT) combines a high-linear energy transfer (LET) emitter (225Ac) with a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) carrier to specifically attack tumor cells.
Benefits of Targeted Alpha-PSMA Therapy
After over 50 therapy cycles have been completed. Most patients who have undergone treatment have seen a significant improvement in their quality of life, as well as a reduction in their symptoms and pain, with each therapy cycle.
Apart from that, the expert has seen a biochemical reaction with a decrease in serum PSA levels, indicating a reduction in overall tumor load in the patient’s body.
The majority of patients have shown a long-term response, with a few patients experiencing near-complete biochemical and clinical remission for over a year.
They remain in clinical remission, and the influence of Ac225 PSMA Therapy on a patient’s overall survival will become clearer as time passes.
The nuclear oncologists used Ga68 PSMA scans to assess radiological responses before the next scheduled cycles and saw some positive outcomes, including approximately 70% tumor shrinkage in a single cycle in certain patients.
Side Effects of Targeted Alpha-PSMA Therapy
After getting a few repeated cycles of Targeted Alpha Therapy, patients start feeling dryness in the mouth, also known as Xerostomia.
Xerostomia: It is a dryness in the mouth that can be caused by a change in saliva composition, decreased salivary flow, or no apparent explanation. This is a relatively common symptom that can be caused by a variety of medications.
Although some patients may find it disturbing, most patients do not indicate that xerostomia has had a substantial influence on their lifestyle.
Diarrhea and liver issues are the most common side effects of targeted therapy. Problems with blood clotting and wound healing, high blood pressure, fatigue, and skin problems are all possible adverse effects.
Why Target Alpha Therapy is Better Than Chemotherapy?
Targeted therapy is technically a kind of chemotherapy, although it does not act in the same way.
The difference between target therapy and chemotherapy includes:
1. Chemotherapy is cytotoxic to cells, which means it harms healthy cells as well as malignant cells. Cancer cells are targeted by targeted therapy, whereas normal, healthy cells are relatively unaffected.
2. Targeted therapy can prevent cancer cells from multiplying, which means it can prevent the production of new cells.
3. Targeted therapy medications, like other cancer-fighting therapies, are classified as chemotherapy. Targeted therapy medications, on the other hand, are not the same as typical or standard chemotherapy (chemo). Targeted medications target some of the differences that distinguish cancer cells from normal cells.
Conclusion
The overall program focuses on all stages of creating targeted alpha therapy from bench to bedside, including the discovery of novel technologies for producing alpha emitters, pre-clinical investigations in vitro and in vivo, and clinical trials in conjunction with Indian and worldwide hospitals.
Certain targeted medicines can label cancer cells so that the immune system can detect and destroy them more easily. Other targeted medicines help your immune system fight cancer more effectively.
Targeted alpha therapy is a novel therapeutic option that allows patients to overcome acquired resistance mechanisms in some types of cancers.
Furthermore, finding novel radionuclide conjugation techniques could help to address targeting issues.
