Measurements of the strontium plasma clearance rate in patients receiving 89Sr radionuclide therapy.

The total strontium plasma clearance rate due to excretion through the kidneys and gut has an important influence on the absorbed does delivered to skeletal metastases and red bone marrow in patients receiving 89Sr radionuclide therapy for disseminated prostatic carcinoma. Although a measurement of the renal strontium plasma clearance rate may readily be obtained through a 24-h urine collection, little information is available on the correlation between renal and total clearances. We describe a method of determining total strontium plasma clearance rate from whole body counter measurements of total body strontium retention and measurements of plasma strontium concentration following administration of a 85Sr tracer dose at the time of 89Sr therapy. Amongst the 26 patients whom we studied, the total clearance rate varied from 1.2-15.0 l/day, renal clearance rate from 0.1-11.5 l/day, and the mean gut clearance rate was 2.0 l/day. A close correlation was found between total and renal clearance, with the renal component accounting for 96% of the variance in total strontium plasma clearance. A weak collection may exist between gut and renal clearance.