Tuesday, December 3 | 2:40 p.m.-2:50 p.m. | T7-STCE2-2 | Learning Center Theater 2
During this session on theranostics, a study suggests that targeted education is needed to support the delivery of lutetium-177 (Lu-177) prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-617 to patients. Earlier use in real-world community settings compared with ideal settings (as in clinical trials) could improve outcomes, the group noted.
Presenter Emily Convery, MD, a resident at Atlantic Health System in New Jersey, and colleagues, retrospectively compared early outcomes in 25 patients treated at a community hospital-based Lu-177 PSMA-617 program to those reported in landmark clinical trials, namely the VISION, LuPSMA, and TheraP trials.
Overall, 48% of patients met the mean trial criteria for total-body PSMA standard uptake value (SUV) compared with 100% for trial populations. Except for death, treatment termination based on disease progression and persistent grade 3-5 adverse events were similar between study patients and those in the trials. In addition, 24% of patients died during treatment, or soon after terminating treatment, with 83% of these patients having received only 1 or 2 doses of therapy, according to the findings. These deaths only occurred during the first five months of the program. This is compared to study data in which 7.7% of VISION trial patients died during therapy.
Accordingly, it appears necessary to temper expectations for patients treated outside of trial selection criteria and to educate referring physicians about the benefits of incorporating nuclear medicine therapies earlier in their treatment plans, according to the researchers.
“Further research and targeted education is needed to help maximize theranostics outcomes in real-world community settings and to support the delivery of this new and innovative care to these patients,” the group suggests.
