Answer to Question #6752 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

Category: Nuclear Medicine Patient Issues — Therapeutic Nuclear Medicine

The following question was answered by an expert in the appropriate field:

Do you have any information on the medical uses of radium-224 in facilities within the United States? If so, where are they? What are the uses?

Radium-224 chloride injection was approved in Germany until early 2006 for treating ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic and debilitating inflammatory rheumatic disease. Today radium-224 is not available in Germany from the drug maker, or in any other country for medical treatments.

Radium-224 has not been approved for use in the United States. However, radium-224 is used experimentally in the United States as the parent radionuclide for generator-produced lead-212 and bismuth-212, which belong to the radium-224 decay chain. Lead-212 and bismuth-212 are used for experimental treatment of metastatic cancer in laboratory animals. Two current examples include melanoma and ovarian cancer. Antibodies or peptides labeled with lead-212 or its daughter bismuth-212 target cell-surface antigens on melanoma or ovarian cancer cells. Lead-212 is a beta-emitter and bismuth-212 is an alpha-emitter. The alpha particles from bismuth-212 are particularly effective in destroying cancer cells.

The institutions using the lead-212 and bismuth-212 daughters of radium-224 in cell-directed immunotherapy against cancer are the University of Missouri at Columbia (melanoma treatment) and the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland (ovarian cancer treatment).

Darrell Fisher, PhD, CHP

Answer posted on November 14, 2007. The information and material posted on this Web site is intended as general reference information only. Specific facts and circumstances may alter the concepts and applications of materials and information described herein. The information provided is not a substitute for professional advice and should not be relied upon in the absence of such professional advice specific to whatever facts and circumstances are presented in any given situation. Answers are correct at the time they are posted on the Web site. Be advised that over time, some requirements could change, new data could be made available, or Internet links could change. For answers that have been posted for several months or longer, please check the current status of the posted information prior to using the responses for specific applications.