Pilot study points to better quality of life for prostate cancer sufferers who can’t be cured.

Groundbreaking research currently being carried out in Auckland could help to extend the lives of men with non-treatable prostate cancer and make their last months far more comfortable.

Radiologist Dr Remy Lim from Mercy Radiology is leading a pilot study — the first of its kind in New Zealand — into a form of therapy that involves injecting patients with radioactive molecules that target and kill prostate cancer cells.

Early indications from overseas research suggest the treatment involving a compound called Lutetium-177 may be able to make a big difference to prostate cancer patients who can’t be cured of the disease, which kills around 600 Kiwi men every year.

“Lutetium-177 therapy will likely prolong life in the majority of patients with metastatic disease for over a year and in that time, it will give them a better quality of life, with less pain, and relief from other symptoms,” says Dr Lim. “It is a real game-changer.”

Doctors trialing Lutetium-177 in Australia — one of only a handful of countries other than New Zealand looking into this kind of treatment — have had exciting results after giving four cycles of the therapy to patients riddled with cancer that started in the prostate.

“The disease pretty much melted away, which was amazing,” says Dr Lim.

In his pilot study, which involves five patients and is a collaboration between Mercy Radiology and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand, one of the initial two patients who has received only their first cycle of Lutetium-177 has already had a significant reduction in his levels of the enzyme PSA (prostate specific antigen). PSA levels become elevated when prostate cancer is present.

“This is very positive,” says Dr Lim, who started the study in August, and is quick to point out that Lutetium-177 is not a cure.

“The disease will come back eventually once it has got to this stage, but it is giving them a better quality of life and keeping the disease in check when nothing else is available for them.”

The success of Lutetium-177 lies in the fact that it goes directly to the cancer cells, attaching to proteins called PSMA (prostate specific

“It’s like the difference between a shotgun, which blasts everything, and a sniper. We are only targeting prostate cancer cells and leaving the healthy ones alone.”

Scans of patients who have had Lutetium-177 in the pilot study show that it has gone straight to the sites of the prostate cancer. “That means