Pioneering prostate cancer treatment, which is now available in Alaska

Anchorage, Alaska (Ktuu) – Providence Alaska Medical Center gives the state a breakthrough cancer treatment and offers new hope for men who fight advanced prostate cancer.

Pluvicto, the latest therapy, is designed in such a way that you specifically target prostate -specific membrane antigen (PSMA+) cancer cells and deliver them directly to you and at the same time minimize the damage to the healthy tissue. So far, Alaskans, who qualified for this treatment, had to travel from the state and were exposed to additional stress and financial burden.

Dr. John Halligan, director of radiation uncology at the Providence Cancer Center, said that Pluvicto works like a guided rocket for cancer cells.

“We actually have an antibody, essentially a targeting mechanism in which an antibody connects to a prostate cancer cell. It is bound to a radioactive material called Luteum, a molecule … it is very fatal for the prostate cancer cells and otherwise spends very little parts of the body, ”he said.

Before Pluvicto arrived in Alaska, the patients had to travel every six weeks, undergone blood tests, received dose and waited not to ensure complications before flying home. Now they can be treated on site in the Providence Cancer Center.

Pluvicto is administered every six weeks for up to six cycles, depending on how the patient reacts and tolerates the treatment. The procedure takes only a few minutes and can be given by IV or infusion.

“When we look at the patients who got Pluvicto, their average survival was pushed out by about four months and the two -year survival was 30%in contrast to 16 to 18%,” said Dr. Halligan.

For prostate cancer, one of the most common and fatal types of cancer in Alaska and nationwide, this treatment is considerable progress in local care. According to Dr. Halligan diagnose about 400 men a year with prostate cancer in Anchorage, Mat-Su and the Kenai Peninsula.

Now that Pluvicto is available from March from the state, Alaskan who is faced with advanced prostate cancer have access to a new option, a new approach and a new hope that is closer to home.

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