Doctors in Olomouc are testing a unique cure for cancer. It irradiates tumors from the inside
Doctors in Olomouc are testing a unique drug for prostate cancer. It attaches to the tumor and irradiates it from within. The Olomouc University Hospital is the only one in which has started to administer this medicine to patients in the Czech Republic.
The principle of operation is simple – the patient receives a radioactive substance in the blood that can bind to proteins in tumor cells. The drug thus irradiates the tumor from the inside and either destroys it completely or slows down its growth.
In the United States, this radiopharmaceutical is already approved for patients who have failed other treatments. In Olomouc, they are currently conducting a clinical study in which the first patients are involved. The new drug represents hope for thousands of men who develop prostate cancer every year. The so-called radiopharmaceutical is already used by the Brno Oncology Institute.
“My main problems started when I had abdominal pain,” patient Patio Josef described his health problems in 2019. Doctors diagnosed him with small bowel cancer. Very small tumors were able to illuminate thanks to the radioactive substance.
“Thanks to the examination, the tumor foci are richly depicted,” explained the head of the Masaryk Oncology Institute, Zdeněk Řehák.
Radioactive drugs are entering the Czech Republic thanks to new legislation, which allows doctors to irradiate the substance exactly as needed directly in the hospital.
TN.cz