[Radionuclides for metastatic bone pain palliation]

The paper overviews the role of systemic radionuclide therapy in patients with disseminated bone metastases. Most patients with bone metastases experience painful symptoms. Systemic radioisotope therapy is an alternative to traditional hemibody radiation in cases of multiple, diffuse metastases. Usually given as a single i.v. slow infusion it provides a pain relief beginning in one to three weeks, with a mean duration up to several months, depending on the kind of radioisotope applied. The paper overviews the role of unsealed source therapy with these bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals in palliating pain, improving quality of life, indications, contraindications and complications of this therapy are discussed, as well as cost-benefit aspects.