 Radioactive samarium @-@ 153 is a beta emitter with a half @-@ life of 46 @.@ 3 hours . It is used to kill cancer cells in the treatment of lung cancer , prostate cancer , breast cancer , and osteosarcoma . For this purpose , samarium @-@ 153 is <unk> with ethylene diamine <unk> phosphonate ( <unk> ) and injected intravenously . The chelation prevents accumulation of radioactive samarium in the body that would result in excessive irradiation and generation of new cancer cells . The corresponding drug has several names including samarium ( 153Sm ) <unk> ; its trade name is <unk> . 
