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Japanese patient receiving prostate cancer treatment

International team approach to advanced prostate cancer treatment

Theranostics is a personalised approach to helping treat certain types of cancer, using both therapy and diagnosis tools, as part of the treatment plan. To date most theranostics success has been in metastatic prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumours1. The hope is that in the future theranostics may be used to treat different cancers as well.

First up a PET scan image is used to understand whether specific targets, known as tumour receptors, are present on tumour cells. If the tumour receptors are present and visible on the PET scan, a radioactive drug, given as an injection, is used to treat the tumours. The drug is highly targeted with minimal impact to healthy areas.2

Recently, Mr Saigo, a Japanese actor and singer, travelled to Sydney for theranostics treatment of his metastatic prostate cancer, at GenesisCare, Hurstville. The theranostics team at GenesisCare formed a collaboration in early 2018, with doctors in Yokohama, Japan following the treatment of a Japanese patient in Perth for his metastatic prostate cancer. PSMA PET imaging and PSMA based therapies used to treat metastatic prostate cancer are not yet available in Japan.

Today GenesisCare and Yokohama Theranostics offer a complete service for Japanese patients who come to Australia, including initial, joint telehealth consultations, plus support for obtaining medical visas, transfers, medical attention if required (whilst in Australia) and interpreters. As more theranostic therapies become available in the future to treat other types of cancer, GenesisCare and Yokohama Theranostics plan to expand their service offering. 

To hear more about Mr Saigo’s story, click to watch the video below and hear from him as he discusses his prostate cancer journey and experience travelling to Australia for theranostics treatment:

References

  1. Mittra ES. AJR 2018; 211(2): 278-285. Available at: www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.18.19953. Accessed on: 19/07/21
  2. Rahbar K, et al. Mol Imaging 2018; 17: 1-9. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5992796/. Accessed on: 19/07/21.. 2019; 39:332-340.