Latest report on the first trial of Lutetium-177 that included some of our members

[Admin]

Jim Marshall (not a doctor) said ...

A number of our members participated in this first trial of using radioactive Lutetium (Lutetium-177, Lu-177) for men who had already had several other treatments.

This is the latest report, quoting the study leader,  Michael Hofman at Peter McCallum (PeterMac) in Melbourne.

After you read the article, if you want to find out what our members might have said about their Lutetium treatment, go to the Search... box near the top of this page and type:

Lutetium

... end Jim

https://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/prostate-cancer/news/online/{4a97c48a-da5c-468d-9b43-1a82912542e5}/targeted-radiation-therapy-yields-high-response-rates-in-metastatic-prostate-cancer

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[ardee]

These results are very promising and encouraging for a number of men we know in this treatment in Oz and Germany. Here's a recent first hand report from one of our particpants ..... https://ancan.org/first-hand-radionuclide-psma-experience-in-heidelberg-germany/

 

O&U, rd

[Patrick Turner]

After diagnosis in 2009, age 62, I had attempt at open RP in early 2010, which failed, and could not remove PG, so I had EBRT and ADT in the common  common procession of drugs with added Cosadex in 2016 + salvation IMRT to PG, then Zytiga, then chemo which failed after only 4 shots, so I began Lu177 in Nov 2018 and had 4 shots up to May 2019 with Xtandi  added after 3rd shot. Psa was 25 when I began Lu177, with countless soft tissue mets in lymph nodes and bones, and slight discomfort from some bone mets, the biggest was pea sized in pelvis and femur.

Follow up PsMa scans in August 2019 showed all soft tissue mets invisible and bone met lesions healing, Psa 1.6.

In Nov 2019, Psa went to nadir of 0.32, but is now about 1.5, and recent CT scan reports said slight activity in a met in a shoulder blade and L5 vertebra. Maybe Xtandi is now failing to work, leaving residual Psa that would exist had it not been used at all but added Xtandi was to boost PsMa expression and make last 2 shots of Lu177 more effective. 

So far, so good. Nobody has told me I need Pca tumour analysed for DNA to determine if PARP inhibitors like olaparib might work. 

Today, on ABC Landline, show on TV, they had history of Alan Tounsel's work on stem cells for fighting cancer, which have so far been giving some good results. Alan Tounsel worked on IVF for sheep, and that worked to led to humans, and there are now about 10 million IVF ppl born as a result. So he might just be the man to give us all the break through with stem cells. It may be quite a while before human trials with Pca are done, but I feel it will be inevitable. I could imagine becoming Pca free, getting right away from ADT, maybe taking pills to get testosterone to normal levels, and then getting 5kph added average speed on my bike, and living very well beyond 80. 

Meanwhile, I am in wait and see mode, and I bet Psa will be 5 in 6 weeks at my next talk to oncologist, and I'll ask for another PsMa scan and maybe have another 5th shot, perhaps with a small amount of added Ac225, which Theranostics Australia suggested may be needed when I last spoke to Dr MacFarlane who was one of the two doctors who presided over Pca patients needing nuclides. 

Last week I cycled 207km, with 87km today, week before I did 211km, and average speed was good for my age at 72, no aches and pains on bike, so I seem to be maintaining my position as healthiest stage 4 cancer patient at Canberra Hospital. I was not in any trial of Lu177 in Melbourne at Peter Mac in 2016, but Professor Hoffman seemed to be right on the ball, and his recent work is excellent, shedding light on why some men who initially look like good candidates for Lu177 turn out to have not such a wonderful outcome, and because their Pca has mutated into types of Pca which don't show up in PsMa scans because PsMa expression is low, so don't attract Lu177 used in therapy. 

I have faith in my team at CH, a registra, an oncologist, and good responsive Pca nurse. They will refer me elsewhere to get treatment which does not exist at CH if I need it. So I have my Pca more or less under control, my QOL is better than about 6 billion other ppl on Earth, so who am I to complain? I don't attend a doctor to whinge, I ask what can he do, and they don't mind me dressed in lycra because I am doing all I can to avoid maybe 6 other bad health conditions. It does seem many men seem shy to tell other men here of how they fared after receiving LU177, but in other groups they are less shy, and there are mixed results. 

But if I could not have had Lu177, I'd be in palliative care, to soon begin to un-live. 

Patrick Turner. 

[Patrick Turner]

In my last post I got the name wrong for Alan Tounsel wrong, and it should be Alan Trounsel. and there is 2004 profile at 

https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736(04)16645-2

Landline show on TV did say he is involved now in stem cell research for cancer treatments.

Patrick Turner.

[Patrick Turner]

Just in case anyone wants to continue thinking that fighting cancer is easy, just consider the complexity of DNA of in cancers and why its so hard to make a breakthough to tailor best therapy for a cancer. Here is an interesting article I found about research at Monash Uni.

https://lens.monash.edu/2020/02/06/1379630/genetic-secrets-of-almost-2700-cancers-unveiled-by-landmark-international-project

It is not easy to translate what is known about a cancer's DNA to therapy to change its behaviour so it just dies instead of live on with un-controlled growth. 

It seems there's a high concentration of good blokes and shielas at Monash with far more intelligence than I have. just as well.

Patrick Turner.