CT-guided ¹²⁵I particles implantation for the treatment of patients with bone metastases: a clinical study

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of ¹²⁵I particles implantation in treating patients with bone metastases. Methods: A total of 54 patients with bone metastases were divided into study group (n = 30) and control group (n = 24). Implantation of ¹²⁵I particles was adopted in the patients of the study group, the total number of seeds implanted was 1581, with an average of (52 ± 6) particles per patient. For the patients of the control group, only medication was adopted. The effective rates of pain relief based on numerical rating scale (NRS) score as well as functional improvement based on Karnofsky performance status (KPS) score, and the curative effect of lesions were compared between the two groups. The postoperative changes in serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels, the untoward effect and complications were also compared between the two groups. Results: The improvement rate of patients' functional state in the study group was 60%, which was higher than 29.2% in the control group. The apparent analgesic effect in the study group was 36.2%, which was higher than 4.2% in the control group. The clinical curative effect of lesions in the study group was 93.3%, which was higher than 8.3% in the control group. The differences in all the above items between the two groups were statistically significant (P < 0.05). No serious adverse reactions or complications occurred. Conclusion: For relieving pain caused by bone metastases, implantation of ¹²⁵I particles is a safe and effective therapeutic method and this therapy can reliably improve the quality of life. (authors)