Rhenium-186 HEDP: Palliative Radionuclide Therapy of Painful Bone Metastases: Preliminary results

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of rhenium-186 hydroxyethyledine diphosphonate (Re-186 HEDP) for pain relief in patients with disseminated bone metastases primarily from prostate or breast cancer. Up to now, 44 patients taking analgesics were entered in this study and received one or more injections of 1295 MBq of Re-186 HEDP. An analgesic effect of more than 20%, evaluated by using a verbal rating scale (VRS) and a visual analogous scale (VAS), was defined as significant and could be achieved in 60% of these patients. Duration of clinical response averaged 1-4 months (median 5.5 weeks). Side effects such as a moderate decrease of platelets or an increase of pain for 1-2 days (flare-up effect) were observed. Radioactive treatment with Re-186 HEDP appears to be a useful compound for the palliation of painful skeletal metastases and improvement of the remaining quality of life.

Key Words:

• prostate and breast cancer
• disseminated bone metastases
• pain relief
• quality of life
• radionuclide therapy
• rhenium-186 HEDP