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Simon C. Lam MD: Xofigo is a product that is used to extend the life of patients with
prostate cancer metastasis to bone and also give the better quality of life.
Xofigo is in a proper chemical term is known as the radium dichloride and what it is a
radium is a common element that is known to us just like gold, silver, or even oxygen
and nitrogen that is around us except that it has a very radioactive element that comes
with it and because of it is a radioactive element, it decays by giving up some radiation
beam and that is known as the alpha particle. This alpha particle is highly charged and
short range meaning that it would deposit most of the energy in a few cell length and
the radiation was stopped completely beyond that. The benefit of that is that most of
the radiation is given out of the cancer cell that is the deposited with the radium and
would not affect any cells beyond it. Prostate cancer when it has metastasis to the bone,
the cells are more active. The radium itself is almost like calcium which we know that
the sort of calcium chloride can be deposited in the bone and so does radium would deposit
in the bone more so for the actively cancerous area and with that element spin in there and
shooting the radiation though into the bone itself, but not travelling beyond to the bone
marrow. It gives a very good dose, but not affecting the bone marrow.