A cutting-edge new treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) has just been approved in Canada and could allow terminally ill patients to see their lives extended.
« It gives patients hope to maintain their quality of life and prolong their survival“, said Dr. Fred Saad, full professor of surgery and urology at the University of Montreal Hospital Center, believing that the new therapy will provide a new treatment option for patients with prostate cancer who has spread to other parts of the body despite numerous treatments.
The new therapeutic approach uses nuclear medicine to attack only cancer cells without damaging organs in the body that are not affected by cancer. First, oncologists very precisely scan the patient’s cancer and then inject radioligands into the blood.
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A radioligand is composed of a targeting molecule capable of recognizing the patient’s cancer cells, attaching to them and releasing a radioactive particle which will then destroy them, explained the professor, quoted by Canadian media.
« It’s really the treatment we dreamed of and which makes it possible to specifically target a patient’s cancer“, he welcomed, noting that clinical trials have shown that, on average, the therapy reduces the progression of metastases by 50% and increases the patient’s chances of survival by 40%. Prostate cancer starts in the cells of the prostate, an organ located in a man’s pelvis, below the bladder and in front of the rectum. This cancer can then spread to other areas of the body.
In Canada, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and the third leading cause of cancer death, according to Health Canada.
With MAP