A new radioactive drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year for a type of cancer affecting the pancreas or gastrointestinal tract has been used for the first time in the area by doctors at Hartford Hospital treating a patient with gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors.
The new drug, Lutathera, treats tumors that test positive for the hormone receptor somatostatin. Radioactively charged proteins attack and destroy the cancer cells. Dr. Andrew Salner, radiation oncologist and medical director of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at Hartford Hospital, helped oversee the team treating the patient with Lutathera, the first radioactive drug approved for the treatment of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
“This is a complex treatment because it can cause kidney injury if not done extremely carefully according to standard protocol,” says Dr. Salner. “The patient needs a series of medications and infusions prior to, during and after the Lutathera to ensure its efficacy and to minimize adverse effects. A team of nurses, pharmacists, radiation safety, nuclear medicine and other staff helped to make the treatment successful. We are excited to be early adopters of this new therapeutic approach, and have a number of other NET (neuroendocrine tumor) patients who will likely benefit.”
Lutathera is part of a new class of drugs called Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, or PRRT. It’s likely other PRRT drugs will emerge in the next several years for other tumor types. Clinical trials with Lutathera demonstrated a dramatic improvement in survival compared to usual care, results that led to the drug’s FDA approval in January.
For more information, please contact Hartford Hospital radiation oncology 860.972.2803. For more information about the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute, click here.