Carcinoma of the prostate: the treatment of bone metastases by radiophosphorus.

Osseous deposits secondary to advanced carcinoma of the prostate are a common feature of the disease. These deposits are most often seen in the lumbar spine and pelvis and cause severe and intractable pain, often requiring large quantities of strong analgesia for alleviation of pain. Relief of pain can be achieved by external irradiation of these deposits, but this relief may not be permanent and the disease may be so widespread that it is impracticable to treat all the deposits by irradiation. Deposits from carcinoma of the prostrate are usually multiple and all may cause pain at the same time. A method of delivering the radiation to all the deposits at the same time has been sought. Previous studies have shown that radioactive phosphorus (P32) can be used to obtain this localisation of radioactivity at sites of osseous activity. In this study 24 patients with bone metastases from carcinoma of the prostate were treated with radiophosphorus and methyl testosterone, or radiophosphorus with parathormone and calcium. An overall response rate of 58% shows this to be an effective palliative treatment. The results suggest there is a greater response when P32 is used in conjunction with parathormone and calcium, than with methyl testosterone.