Read Time: 5 minutes
Takeaways:
- Theranostics is a groundbreaking, personalized treatment that uses targeted radiation to both locate and destroy cancer cells, helping slow tumor growth while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.
- Thanks to advances like theranostics, patients like Charlene Edwards can live longer, fuller lives with cancer.
Impact: Huntsman Cancer Institute is a national leader in theranostics, offering clinical trials for various cancers, including NETs.
LIFE, INTERRUPTED
In 2006, Charlene Edwards was working as an elementary school secretary. She ordered supplies for teachers, performed first aid for students, and handled requests from parents. She was also the mother of four 亚洲自慰视频ren鈥攖he youngest hadn鈥檛 even started high school. Her job and life kept her busy, but it increasingly seemed to be too much for her.
鈥淎t the end of each day, I鈥檇 tell my husband, 鈥楨very single cell of my body is more tired than I can even explain or express to you,鈥欌 says Charlene. 鈥淚 also had a lot of stomach pain, and I just felt like something was really wrong.鈥
Nothing abnormal came up in routine blood tests, and doctors couldn鈥檛 give Charlene any answers. But she had just turned 50, then the recommended age to begin colonoscopy screenings. The providing doctor made an unusual choice鈥攖hat he would scope her small intestine, as well as her colon.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where the doctor found this big mass. And it will need to be surgically removed,鈥 says Charlene.
Charlene was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Neuroendocrine cells act as both neurological and endocrine system cells, releasing and regulating hormones. According to the , NETs are typically a slow-growing form of cancer that can develop anywhere in the body. In adults, NETs most commonly occur in the gastrointestinal tract, as was the case for Charlene.
Still, NETs is a relatively rare cancer. The suggests that more than 8,500 people are diagnosed with NETS in the United States each year. Charlene underwent surgery to remove the tumors from her small intestine in 2006, the same year of her diagnosis. She didn鈥檛 meet another NETs patient until seven years later. She soon found a much-needed emotional connection with a handful of other patients in her same situation through the Utah NET Cancer Support Group. There, she learned a lesson that changed the trajectory of her cancer journey. The organizer of the group told Charlene to approach cancer treatment like the story of Cinderella.
鈥淗e said, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 want to turn into a pumpkin. Keep trying to set your clock back, anything that comes along that you can slow it down, knock it back, get new treatments, just keep going,鈥欌 says Charlene. 鈥淪o that's kind of been a theme in the back of my mind, always. What's next? What else can I do?鈥
Finding and Destroying Cancer Cells
Following that advice, Charlene continued to find hope in new treatments that slowed the progression of her disease. Almost 15 years after her initial diagnosis, she learned of another innovative way to set her clock back鈥攁 cutting-edge strategy called theranostics.
Theranostics is a combination of the words 鈥渢herapeutics鈥 and 鈥渄iagnostics.鈥 Occurring in two parts, it is a strategy that uses targeted radiation to both find and destroy cancer cells.
The cancer cells are first identified with a diagnostic that allows doctors to find tumors using a PET-CT scan. Patients then receive an infusion with a more powerful type of radioisotope to kill the cancer cell. This part of the theranostics process is called radioligand therapy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a more personalized delivery of radiation therapy, one that internally, typically injected into the bloodstream, hits the target and minimizes the radiation damage and exposure to normal tissue,鈥 says Heloisa Soares, MD, PhD, medical director of theranostics at Huntsman Cancer Institute and associate professor of internal medicine at the 亚洲自慰视频 of Utah. 鈥淭his treatment method has so far been shown to be more effective than other methods, especially in NETs. By using the strategy of theranostics, the tumors take longer to grow.鈥
As a nationally recognized leader in theranostics, Huntsman Cancer Institute is in a prime position to provide this type of treatment to patients in the Mountain West. Several clinical trials in theranostics are open or in the process of being available for patients, including trials for brain, breast, prostate, lung, pancreas, and neuroendocrine cancers.
Charlene first underwent radioligand therapy at Huntsman Cancer Institute in 2017. She did another course of the treatment with Dr. Soares in late 2024.
鈥淏y using the strategy of theranostics, the tumors take longer to grow.鈥
Heloisa Soares, MD, PhD
Dr. Soares says the primary side effects for NETs patients are fatigue, decrease in blood counts, and some impact on kidney function. Radioligand therapy is also different from traditional radiation in that the radioisotopes need time to decay. Patients must take precautions to ensure the radioactivity leaving the body doesn鈥檛 affect others. Charlene avoided close contact with her family for a few days and used her own bathroom.
鈥淲hen I went into it, it was a little scary,鈥 says Charlene. 鈥淏ut someone in my support group had gone through the treatment several times and had a lot of success. So, I just felt like this was my best chance at resetting the clock.鈥
鈥淐harlene Is the Proof鈥
For two decades, Charlene has lived a full life as a patient with NETS.
鈥淲hen Charlene was first diagnosed, there was maybe one therapy available for her. Now she鈥檚 able to receive new treatments with what we hope is this promising radioligand therapy that will provide more years to come,鈥 says Dr. Soares. 鈥淚 say this all the time: The name of the game is to keep you alive and healthy until the next best treatment comes around. Charlene is the proof of that.鈥
Thanks to advances like theranostics, she has been able to spend more time with her husband and high school sweetheart, Rick, watch her 亚洲自慰视频ren grow up, and become a grandparent. She has cared for her parents in their later years and worked as a service missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
鈥淲orking to set my clock back has allowed me to see some milestones and have a few adventures,鈥 says Charlene. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be more grateful.鈥