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Radioimmunotherapy for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Summary & Participants

Radiation can destroy cancer cells. People with cancers such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, now have new options that deliver this form of therapy in a very targeted way. A new treatment called radioimmunotherapy can deliver this radiation via medications, thereby targeting tumor cells wherever they are in the body. Learn about these novel medications and how they are being used today.

Medically Reviewed On: July 11, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: It's always exciting when medical research provides new treatment options. Such is the case with radioimmunotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Like traditional radiation therapy, this new technique uses radiation. But with radioimmunotherapy the radiation is not delivered externally through a beam, but in the form of medication containing special antibodies.

Normally, your immune system uses antibodies, which are proteins that circulate through the bloodstream and attack foreign substances. Today, science can artificially produce substances known as monoclonal antibodies, which are designed to target cancer cells. A radiation source is attached to these antibodies, providing an extra punch in destroying these cells.

RUSSELL SCHILDER, MD: Radioimmunotherapy is a more targeted way of delivering the radiation. It is usually bound to an antibody which is specific for the lymphoma and thus quickly distributes the radiation to the areas of interest and thus spares a lot of the normal tissue.

ANNOUNCER: Currently there are two medications, Zevalin and Bexxar, which are approved by the FDA for radioimmunotherapy. Both utilize the power of different radiation particles called isotopes

STEPHEN SCHUSTER, MD: Iodine-131 is the isotope that's used in the Bexxar antibody. Yttrium-90 is isotope that's used in the Zevalin antibody.

ANNOUNCER: The radioactive particles in Zevalin emit beta radiation, which travels over a relatively short distance. The radioactive particles in Bexxar give off beta and gamma radiation. The gamma radiation travels a longer distance.

STEPHANIE GREGORY, MD: Beta radiation has a short path length and doesn't penetrate deeply into tissue and outside of the body. Gamma radiation is not stopped by anything short of lead, so it passes straight through the body out into the external environment and actually hits whatever is in its pathway.

ANNOUNCER: Safety issues for those in close contact with the patient depend on which medication is administered.

RUSSELL SCHILDER, MD: Yttrium-90 source of radiation is a pure beta emitter so there's absolutely no radiation that escapes the body. The only instructions they really have is to wash their hands, clean up any spills of bodily fluids quickly, to not share utensils for three days, to use condoms during sexual relations for the first week, though it's recommended that birth control be used for up to a year. The other, if it's using iodine, as in I131, it is mostly a beta emitter but there's some gamma radiation and there are some slight differences depending on what state you live in as to the regulatory issues.

ANNOUNCER: Side effects for the patients themselves appear to be minimal.

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