title: Strontium-89 as an adjuvant to external beam radiation improves pain relief and delays disease progression in advanced prostate cancer: results of a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: In a multicenter, randomized controlled trial involving 126 patients with endocrine-resistant advanced prostate cancer, all of whom received external beam radiotherapy, additional treatment with a single injected dose of 400 MBq strontium-89 (Metastron) significantly improved overall pain control. Adjuvant therapy with strontium-89 also significantly reduced analgesia requirements compared with placebo and delayed disease progression, as indicated by the requirement for further external beam radiotherapy. On certain measures, patients receiving strontium-89 also showed enhanced quality of life. Accompanying these changes, levels of prostate tumor markers were significantly reduced by strontium-89 treatment. The benefits resulting from adjuvant strontium therapy were associated with tolerable hematologic toxicity. The addition of strontium-89 to external beam radiation had no effect on survival. However, it has clear implications for improved palliation in advanced prostate cancer and may also impact positively on treatment costs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201.
authors.forename: A T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: McEwan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010166:Palliative Care; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000379:methods; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes