Celebrating the first Lu177 PSMA treatment in a regional district - Canopy Imaging Hawke’s Bay!

Today the team at our recently opened Molecular Imaging and Therapy clinic in Hastings delivered their first Lu177 PSMA treatment to a local patient who was thrilled to be able to receive the treatment close to home.

The clinic which opened in November 2024 has been delivering PET-CT and SPECT-CT services to patients from around the Hawke’s Bay region.  Adding the additional Lu177 PSMA treatment option to the suite of diagnostic and treatment services is an exciting advancement from the team.  Dr Rachelle Steyn has been the key driver in providing this service to our patients, working closely with Prue Lamerton and the team to ensure that patients in the region were not excluded from this level of expert diagnostics and treatment.

Expert training on the Lu177 synthesis was provided by Bayer Molecular Imaging ANZ Specialists, Brendan Mulcahy and Elie Ayoub.

It was a pleasure to have Avril Hull, Specialist NET treatment nurse from Canopy Cancer Care and Michelle Sullivan CEO Neuro Endocrine Cancer, Auckland with us today.  Avril will be working alongside Emma Welch from Canopy Imaging to provide integrated specialist nursing care to all patients receiving radionuclide therapies for prostate and neuroendocrine cancers within the Canopy Healthcare group.  Through collaborative integration, the team will all be able to offer holistic multidisciplinary care to our patients throughout their radionuclide therapy journey.

What is Lu177 PSMA treatment? 

Lu177 PSMA therapy is for advanced metastatic Prostate cancer  where the disease may have progressed after hormonal therapies and chemotherapy. It’s a type of radiation that specifically targets a molecule on the surface of prostate cancer cells called PSMA (prostate specific membrane antigen)

More often than not, patients who are eligible for this therapy are already experiencing symptoms related to their cancer that are impairing their quality of life.

As most patients respond to the treatment, their symptoms tend to get better and their quality of life improves. It’s also very well tolerated, so from a risk/benefit, quality of life perspective, this therapy is highly impactful.