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Profile: Dr Osayande Evbuomwan

UFS Department of Nuclear Medicine treats first patient with advanced stage of prostate cancer

18 August 2021 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons

ADDrOsayande copy — Dr Osayande Evbuomwan is a Senior Lecturer and medical specialist in nuclear medicine in the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of the Free State (UFS).

The University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Nuclear Medicine has, for the first time, started using Lutetium 177 PSMA (Lu-177 PSMA) therapy for the treatment of metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (MCRPC) – an advanced stage of prostate cancer.

The UFS and the Free State province are now joining other South African universities, such as the University of Pretoria, the University of the Witwatersrand, and other provinces in using this method to treat MCRPC patients.

Dr Osayande Evbuomwan, a Senior Lecturer and medical specialist in the Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, says they have started treating their first MCRP patient (first cycle) with peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) on 15 July. It is the first time that Lutetium 177 PSMA – a type of PRRT used for treating patients with MCRPC – has been used in the Free State. This method is used on MCRPC patients who are not eligible for chemotherapy or have failed first- or second-line chemotherapy.

Expertise and funds are now available for this treatment

Dr Evbuomwan was trained and exposed to this therapy at the University of the Witwatersrand during his registrar training in nuclear medicine. When he joined the UFS in 2019, he – with the always available help of the Head of Department, Dr Gerrit Engelbrecht – pushed for the therapy to be used in the department.

“We in the Department of Nuclear Medicine are happy that expertise is now available and that some funds have been released for this treatment to commence. The index patient is very sick with MCRPC and was too sick to qualify for first-line chemotherapy. Each patient will need about four-six cycles for complete treatment. The patient is being treated in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Universitas Academic Hospital and Annex.”

“We are hoping that he will be able to complete at least four cycles and respond well to the treatment. We believe that the ability to administer this treatment now is good news for the Free State, as the people of the Free State also deserve to be exposed to this level of treatment. We are hoping that the government will continue to provide more funds for more of these patients to be treated in our facility,” says Dr Evbuomwan.

It was budgeted to treat five patients (20 cycles), with each cycle (just the Lu-177 PSMA) costing more than R50 000.

A googled image from the internet of a case before, during, and after completing the full course of therapy. The first image is before
treatment and the last image is after completing treatment, while the images in between are during treatment. (Source: Google)

Prostate cancer one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality

Dr Evbuomwan says prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the world, including South Africa. When it progresses to the advanced stage of MCRPC, the prognosis becomes bad.

Dr Evbuomwan explains that there are various conventional systemic therapies, including first- and second-line chemotherapy that could be used to treat patients at this bad stage. However, not all patients are fit for chemotherapy. The few who are fit, according to Dr Evbuomwan, usually end up failing the first-line chemotherapy, which has a lot of undesirable side effects and require long-stay hospital admissions.

Only a few centres are able to offer second-line chemotherapy. So many of these patients end up suffering from prolonged bone pains before eventually dying from the disease.

PRRT is a targeted nuclear medicine therapy that offers the opportunity to deliver very high levels of radiation specifically to cancer cells, because these cancer cells express specific receptors to which certain peptides can bind. This specificity to cancer cells offers the advantage of providing lower doses of radiation and damage to normal organs and tissues, a characteristic that conventional therapies do not offer, explains Dr Evbuomwan.

According to him, Lutetium 177 PSMA (Lu-177 PSMA) is a type of PRRT used for treating patients with MCRPC, who are not eligible for chemotherapy or have failed first-line chemotherapy. Numerous research studies around the world have proven that this treatment improves quality of life, slows down disease progression, and improves overall survival, with little or very tolerable side effects in most patients.

The University of Pretoria is one of the pioneers of this treatment in the world, having done a lot of research with it since 2017. Other provinces such as the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have also recently become involved with the therapy. This therapy is expensive and requires a lot of expertise. It also involves the input of a multidisciplinary team (MDT), which must at least include a nuclear medicine physician, a radiation oncologist, and a urologist. The Departments of Urology and Radiation Oncology at the UFS were also instrumental in the initiation of the therapy and form part of the MDT team at the UFS in the management of these patients.

Treatment puts department, university, and hospital on the map

Dr Evbuomwan says the ability to administer this treatment puts the department, the UFS, and the hospital on the map, alongside other top universities within and outside the country. “It also creates an avenue for us to gather data for research purposes and for publications. We are now able to offer a promising, safe, and highly efficacious therapy for patients with MCRPC in the Free State. Some of these patients no longer need to travel to other provinces to get the treatment.”

There are plans to expand the treatment to more patients – and hospital management, who were present at the first treatment, are excited and looking forward to the outcome of this current treatment.

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News Archive

Student leaders 2012/13 announced

2012-08-30

Ready for the task - Sabelo Khumalo, SRC President of the Qwaqwa Campus and William Clayton, SRC President of the Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Johan Roux
31 August 2012

The 2012/13 elections for the Student Representative Councils (SRC) of the University of the Free State were completed successfully and show meaningful support for the changes in student governance adopted by students across campuses over the past two years.

The SRC elections at the Qwaqwa Campus were completed on 23 August 2012, while the elections at our Bloemfontein Campus took place on 27 and 28 August 2012.

The SRC Elections at our Bloemfontein Campus showed a voter turnout of 4516 votes (30.8%), with the elections at the Qwaqwa Campuses showing 1753 votes (46%) – both campuses reached the required quorums and the IEA (Bloemfontein Campus) and IEC (Qwaqwa Campus) declared the elections free and fair and announced the results as a true reflection of the will of the student bodies at the campuses.

The full SRC at Bloemfontein Campus now consists of 62% black and 38% white, and 53% female and 47% male members.

In the Qwaqwa elections, SADESMO achieved 46, 38% of the vote, with SASCO, PASMA and NASMO each achieving 30,23% and 8,39% and 14,26%, respectively.

The successful elections at Bloemfontein Campus show that the detailed transformation of student governance introduced by students at the Campus in 2010 and adopted by the university in 2011, succeeded in mobilizing greater participation of students in governance and representation. These changes in the main included a shift to independent candidacy for elective portfolios (12 seats) and organizational candidacy in nine sub-councils that holds ex officio seats on the SRC. Changes also included the establishment of student representative seats in faculty governance and management forums and the adoption of a reviewed Central SRC Constitution. Ex officio seats hold full and equal constitutional authority in the SRC.

Students at Qwaqwa Campus introduced additional portfolios to its SRC, including ex-officio seats for academic affairs, arts and culture, commuter students, Rag Community Service, religious affairs, residences and sports.

A joint sitting of the Campus SRCs will establish the Central SRC 2012/13 on 9 September 2012.

As a further opportunity for participation in and the development of student governance and representation, the current Central SRC herewith also announces its recent adoption of a student governance advisory programme, namely the UFS Student Elders Council (SEC).

The SEC is established as a combined programme between the Central SRC and the Dean of Student Affairs and will consist of selected senior student leaders from all campuses who completed their terms of office, apply and are appointed to the Elders Council by the Central SRC.

The Council will serve as an advisory structure to the Central SRC and other student structures in support of the continuous development of student governance and representation of the student body at the university.

The SEC will advise the Central SRC to be constituted following the constitution of the respective Campus SRCs.

The SRC members at the Bloemfontein Campus are:

President: Mr William Clayton

Vice-President: Mr Bonolo Thebe

Secretary: Ms Karis-Robin Topkin

Treasurer: Mr Pieter Coetzee

Arts & Culture: Ms Chanmari Erasmus

Accessibility & Student Support: Ms Gene McCaskill

First-generation Students: Ms Tanya Calitz

Legal and Constitutional Affairs: Ms Nokuthula Sithole

Media, Marketing & Liaison: Ms Neo Chere

Sport: Mr Tshepo Moloi

Student Development & Environmental Affairs: Ms Thabisile Mgadi

Transformation: Ms Koketso Mofokeng

Dialogue & Ex officio: Associations Council: Mr Anesu Ruswa

Academic Affairs & Ex officio: Academic Affairs Council: Ms Nombuso Ndlovu

Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Residences Council: Mr Johann Steyn

City Residence Affairs & Ex officio: Commuter Council: Mr Michael van Niekerk

Postgraduate Affairs & Ex officio: Postgraduate Council: Mr Fadeyi Akinsuyi

International Affairs & Ex officio: International Council: Ms Tumelo Moreri

Student Media Affairs & Ex officio: Media Council: Mr Jamal-Dean Grootboom

RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Fundraising Council: Mr Jaco Faul

RAG Community Service & Ex officio: RAG Community Service Council: Ms Keneue Mahloana

The SRC members at the Qwaqwa Campus are:

President General: Mr S Khumalo

Deputy President: Mr P T Lenka

Secretary General: Mr D Khethang

Treasurer General: Mr S I Sithole

Media & Publicity: Mr S N Ntombela

Politics & Transformation: Tbc

Student Development & Evironmental Affairs: Tbc Academic Affairs: Mr T Molawude

Arts & Cultural Affairs: Mr T Nkohli

Off-Campus Students: Mr B Mtshali

RAG, Community Service & Dialogue: Ms S F Mlotya

Religious Affairs: Ms D C Khau

Residence & Catering Affairs: Ms Z Mzolo

Sports Council: Mr S Mngomezulu

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