Which patients will get the most benefit from Radium 223?

[Paul Edwards]

 The Malecare Advanced Prostate Cancer Blog  reported on research data presented at the 7th European Multidisciplinary Meeting on Urological Cancers held in Barcelona from 12-15 November 2015.

 

Patients who were treated with abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) or denosumab at the same time as they were treated with Ra-223 had better Overall Survival.

 

 

Patients who had a good ECOG performance status*, no pain and low alkaline phosphatase (ALP)^# had significantly longer Overall Survival.

 

* ECOG performance status

 

Clinical trials require the use of standard criteria for measuring how the disease impacts a patient’s daily living abilities (known to physicians and researchers as a patient’s performance status).  The ECOG Scale of Performance Status is one such measurement.  It describes a patient’s level of functioning in terms of their ability to care for themself, daily activity, and physical ability (walking, working, etc.).

 

The scale was developed by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG).

 

 

^# Alkaline phosphatase (ALP)

 

This is a protein that the body produces mainly in the liver and in bones.  With prostate cancer, elevated levels of ALP are associated with the formation of metastases in the bones.