A Process for the Recovery of Strontium from the Urine of Patients Injected with 89Sr

2/5/00

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The palliation of pain in patients with metastatic bone cancer represents for the oncologist a difficult clinical problem.

In these cases, often as a last resource, it can be taken into consideration the use of a radioactive isotope, which is preferentially deposited in the osseous lesions, and palliates the pain for relatively long periods, without important harmful effects on the patient.

In the human organism ionic Strontium shares the same physiological pathway as Calcium, and is deposited in the mineral structure of bone, preferentially in regions of high metabolic turn-over, like those adjacent to metastatic lesions.

89Sr is usually administered by intravenous injection of 110-180 MBq, with a specific activity of 3-6 MBq mg-1 of Sr, as SrCl2.

After each administration of the isotope, the urine of the patient, which contains up to 80% of the isotope, is collected in the hospital for 15-20 days, stored in hot tanks , and sent for disposal as radioactive waste.

Given the relevant cost of 89Sr (2500$/150 MBq) and the high additional cost for the disposal of wastes, a simple chemical process was developed, which permits the recovery and purification of 89Sr eliminated in the urine in a form suitable for further clinical use. At the end of the process

Operative sequence

Lay out of the process

Filtration

Precipitation

Separation by chelating resin

Conversion into chloride form

Sterilisation

Pilot plant for the recovery of 89Sr

Characteristics of the process

Simple chemical operations, easily carried out by technical staff of hospital laboratories.

PPT Slide

If the purified 89Sr is re-injected, a saving of 50% on the cost of the isotope for injection is reached.