Radiolabeled bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals

Bone seeking radiopharmaceuticals consist of diagnostic (primarily single photon emitters) and therapeutic agents. The therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals are utilized on the basis of their particulate emissions (primarily beta-) and thus are treated differently than the single photon bone imaging agents. Lately, the therapeutic bone seekers have attained increasing importance due to their potential role in alleviating pain from osseous metastases in cancer patients. However, there seems to be a paucity of published data on the pharmacokinetics of most of these agents. This paper will briefly review and summarize the presently available pharmacokinetic information on the various therapeutic bone seeking radiopharmaceuticals. Bone imaging agents based on single photon emitters will not be covered since they have been extensively discussed in the published literature.