This information will help you get ready for your Xofigo treatment at MSK.
About Xofigo
Xofigo is a medication used to treat prostate cancer that has spread to your bone. It can help prevent symptoms caused by the cancer in your bones.
Xofigo is a radioactive targeted therapy. This means that it has 2 main parts: a radioactive part and a tumor-targeted part.
- The tumor-targeted part helps the medication fight just the tumor cells, not your normal cells. This helps keep the medication from damaging healthy parts of your body.
- The radioactive part uses radiation (waves of energy) to damage and kill the tumor cells.
Xofigo is given as an intravenous (IV) injection. An IV injection is when medication is put into your vein through an IV line.
Planning Your Xofigo Treatment
Before your Xofigo appointement, you will meet with a healthcare provider from the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Service (MITS). This is sometimes called the Nuclear Medicine service. You may need to have a blood test before your appointment. If you do, a MITS staff member will give you more information.
During your appointment, your MITS provider will ask you about your medical history. They’ll also talk with you about the goals of Xofigo treatment. Your healthcare provider will use your medical history and the results of the blood test to see if Xofigo is right for you.
Once your healthcare provider has decided it’s safe for you to start treatment, they will go over the side effects. They will also give you information about your Xofigo treatment schedule.
If you’re having other treatment (such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or another type of radioactive targeted therapy) for your prostate cancer, you may need to stop that treatment before and during your Xofigo treatment. Your healthcare provider will give you more information if this is needed.
Xofigo treatment schedule
Xofigo is given as 6 separate injections 4 weeks apart. Your last Xofigo injection will be 20 weeks (about 4 and a half months) after your first injection. You will come to MSK for each of your injections.
You will also have a blood test 2 to 3 days before each injection. You can have these blood tests done at the MSK location closest to you.
The timeline below shows your Xofigo treatment schedule.
Figure 1. Xofigo treatment schedule
About Your Xofigo Injection Appointments
Where to go
Your Xofigo injection appointments will be in the MITS therapy suite. To get to the suite, enter the hospital through the entrance at 1250 1st Ave. (between East 67th and East 68th streets). Turn left at the security desk in the lobby. Go up the stairs and check in at the reception desk at the top of the stairs. You can wait in the waiting area. A staff member will come and bring you to the MITS therapy suite.
If you need an elevator instead of the stairs, or if you have questions, ask the security guard for help.
What to expect
Your Xofigo injection appointments will be in the MITS therapy suite. To get to the suite, enter the hospital through the entrance at 1250 1st Ave. (between East 67th and East 68th streets). Turn left at the security desk in the lobby. Go up the stairs and check in at the reception desk at the top of the stairs. You can wait in the waiting area. A staff member will come and bring you to the MITS therapy suite.
If you need an elevator instead of the stairs, or if you have questions, ask the security guard for help.
Radiation safety precautions
After your Xofigo injection, there will be radiation coming from your body. A radiation safety officer is a staff member who is a specialist in radiation safety. They will talk with you about your radiation safety precautions before you leave your injection appointment. They will also give you written instructions to follow at home.
Follow the radiation safety measures below, and the radiation safety officer’s instructions, to keep from exposing others to radiation.
For 1 week after each Xofigo injection:
- Sit when you use the toilet. Do not use a urinal.
- After you go to the bathroom, flush the toilet and wash your hands well with soap and water.
- If any of your linens or clothes become stained with blood, urine, or stool, wash them separately from other clothes and rinse them well.
- Wear medical gloves when wiping up blood, urine, stool, and vomit (throw up) and when handling stained clothes.
It is safe to be around other people, including pregnant people and children after getting a Xofigo injection. You can spend time near others, hug, hold, and touch them.
Some security equipment (such as at airports or outside tunnels) can detect very small amounts of radiation. A radiation safety officer will give you a wallet card that says you had radioactive medicine. This card says you may give off small amounts of radiation for up to 1 month after your treatment. Show this card to law enforcement if they stop you at a checkpoint.
If you have any questions about radiation safety, call 212-639-7391 Monday through Friday from to
After Your Xofigo Injection Appointment
Follow the radiation safety instructions that the radiation safety officer gave you.
Drink lots of liquids after each injection. This will help the radiation from the Xofigo leave your body more quickly. It’s very important to follow the radiation safety instructions to clean or flush your bodily fluids (such as urine) in the bathroom.
During your Xofigo treatment (from your first injection until 6 months after your last injection):
- Always use birth control during sexual activity.
- Do not get your partner pregnant.
- Do not expose your partner to your semen.
If you have questions, talk with your MITS healthcare provider.
Contact Information
If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Service.
- Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., call 212-639-3146. Ask for the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Service nurse.
- After 5:00 p.m., during the weekend, and on holidays, call 212-639-2000. Ask for the Molecular Imaging and Therapy Service fellow on call.