Platinum serves medicine in three distinct roles: the metal at the center of three chemotherapy drug compounds, the primary alloying element in implantable electrode wire, and the parent element of one clinical radioisotope family used in radiotherapy. Iridium and osmium each add a fourth role of their own, an implant alloy and a brachytherapy isotope respectively, and palladium appears alongside platinum in dental alloys. Each compound's identity, each alloy's composition, and platinum's medical demand inside the wider PGM market follow below, section by section, with dosing, side effects and treatment cost left to clinical sources.
What Role Does Platinum Play in Medicine?#
Platinum's medical uses fall into four groups: chemotherapy drug compounds, implantable device alloys, dental alloys and radiotherapy isotopes. Medicine sits alongside dozens of industrial applications of platinum group metals, one of 22 industrial applications this site catalogs, but medical demand behaves differently from the others: it is the single most stable PGM demand segment on record, and, as the market section below shows, one of the least price-sensitive.
The four groups break down by PGM and by device, listed below.
- Chemotherapy drug compounds: cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin, all platinum-based.
- Implantable device alloys: Pt-10Ir electrodes and Pt-10Os surgical components.
- Dental alloys: platinum and palladium in porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns and bridges.
- Radiotherapy isotopes: iridium-192, palladium-103 and ruthenium-106.
Platinum-Based Chemotherapy Drugs: Cisplatin, Carboplatin and Oxaliplatin#
The three platinum-based chemotherapy drugs are cisplatin (CAS 15663-27-1, 65.0% platinum by mass), carboplatin (CAS 41575-94-4, 52.5%) and oxaliplatin (CAS 61825-94-3, 49.1%). Each mass fraction is arithmetic from the drug's molecular formula and platinum's standard atomic weight (195.084), a derived constant rather than a market estimate.
| Drug | Formula | CAS | MW (g/mol) | Pt mass fraction | Approval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cisplatin | cis-[Pt(NH3)2Cl2] | 15663-27-1 | 300.05 | 65.0% | FDA 19 Dec 1978; EU 1979 |
| Carboplatin | C6H12N2O4Pt | 41575-94-4 | 371.25 | 52.5% | 1989 (Paraplatin) |
| Oxaliplatin | C8H14N2O4Pt | 61825-94-3 | 397.29 | 49.1% | EU 1996; FDA 2002 |
Cisplatin is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, with indications including testicular, ovarian, cervical, bladder, head and neck, esophageal and lung cancers, mesothelioma and neuroblastoma. These identities sit in the broader family of platinum compounds this site catalogs by CAS number and formula.
The three drugs' regulatory approvals span nearly a quarter century: cisplatin's FDA approval on 19 December 1978 came 24 years before oxaliplatin's FDA approval in 2002, with carboplatin's 1989 US approval (marketed as Paraplatin) and oxaliplatin's 1996 EU approval falling between the two.
Converted to active-ingredient mass, one troy ounce of platinum becomes about 47.8 grams of cisplatin, 59.2 grams of carboplatin or 63.4 grams of oxaliplatin, a DailyPlatinum conversion derived from each drug's platinum mass fraction above rather than a figure published by any single source.
How Platinum Drugs Work#
Platinum drugs kill cancer cells by forming a platinum-DNA crosslink: after a leaving-group ligand hydrolyzes, the resulting reactive platinum center binds guanine N7, forming predominantly 1,2-intrastrand crosslinks that distort the DNA duplex and block replication and transcription. Cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin differ mainly in which ligand leaves and how quickly: carboplatin's cyclobutanedicarboxylate ligand hydrolyzes far more slowly than cisplatin's chloride ligands, and oxaliplatin carries a different carrier ligand (a DACH group) entirely, giving it a distinct activity profile in colorectal cancer, an indication where cisplatin and carboplatin are not used.
This is also a fully dissipative use of platinum. Administered platinum is excreted from the body, and none of it is recovered, unlike the platinum in a catalytic converter or a piece of jewelry, both of which can be refined back into metal at the end of their working life.
Platinum and Iridium Alloys in Implantable Medical Devices#
Pt-10Ir, an alloy of 90% platinum and 10% iridium, is the workhorse material for implantable electrodes and radiopaque markers across cardiac, neurological and sensory devices. A second platinum alloy, Pt-10Os (90% platinum, 10% osmium), does a related but separate job in structural surgical implants, covered below.
Pt-10Ir Electrodes: Pacemakers, Neurostimulators and Cochlear Implants#
Pt-10Ir is used in pacemaker and ICD lead electrodes, neurostimulator electrodes, cochlear implant electrode arrays and catheter marker bands, chosen for four properties at once: radiopacity, biocompatibility, a wide electrochemical water window and the mechanical strength iridium adds that pure platinum lacks alone.
- Pacemaker and ICD lead electrodes
- Neurostimulator electrodes, including deep brain, spinal cord and vagus nerve stimulation
- Cochlear implant electrode arrays
- Catheter marker bands on balloon catheters and stent delivery systems
Radiopacity comes from the alloy's density of 21.5 g/cm3, which keeps the device visible under fluoroscopy, while corrosion immunity in chloride-rich body fluid and a wide electrochemical window let the electrode stimulate tissue without electrolyzing water or dissolving. Iridium oxide (IrOx) coatings are applied over the wire to raise charge-injection capacity further.
No verified ASTM standard specifically names Pt-10Ir implant wire. ASTM F560, occasionally cited in supplier marketing material for platinum implant components, actually covers unalloyed tantalum, not platinum, and ASTM B684/B684M does specify 80/20, 85/15 and 90/10 platinum-iridium compositions, but as electrical contact materials rather than a surgical implant standard. Buyers sourcing Pt-10Ir implant wire should verify any standard reference directly against the ASTM catalog rather than a supplier's description.
Pt-10Os in Surgical Implants#
A 90% platinum / 10% osmium alloy (Pt-10Os) is used in surgical implants, including pacemaker components and replacement pulmonary valves, according to the SFA (Oxford) for the International Platinum Group Metals Association osmium factsheet (May 2026). Osmium has no published supply-demand balance of its own, unlike platinum, palladium and rhodium, which is part of why this implant use counts as one of very few current, documented osmium applications outside laboratory and industrial settings, and it is cited wherever osmium's demand is discussed.
The World Platinum Investment Council attributes platinum's medical demand growth mainly to implantable and minimally invasive device volumes rather than to drug volumes, and notes that substitution is much less feasible for electrodes, neurostimulation leads, pacemaker leads and platinum-based drugs than for structural implants generally, where titanium and cobalt-chromium or nickel-chromium alloys are the more common substitutes. That low substitutability is a large part of why platinum's medical demand has proven the least price-sensitive of any PGM end use, a pattern tracked in the market section below.
Platinum and Palladium in Dental Alloys#
Platinum and palladium appear in porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) dental crown and bridge alloys, classified by ADA/ANSI noble-metal content: high noble alloys carry at least 60% noble metal (gold, platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium or rhodium) with at least 40% gold, while noble alloys carry at least 25% noble metal without the gold requirement. A commercial noble-class PFM example is 25% palladium, 42.75% cobalt and 20% chromium (Argen DPM NobleCrown NF).
Johnson Matthey's dental & biomedical demand line fell for palladium and rose for platinum over the same 2021-2025 period, for opposite reasons. Palladium dental & biomedical demand dropped from 208,000 ounces in 2021 to 163,000 ounces in 2025, a 22% decline, as all-ceramic and CAD/CAM restorations displace metal-ceramic crowns, and Johnson Matthey forecasts a further fall to 151,000 ounces in 2026. Platinum's own dental & biomedical line rose from 224,000 to 282,000 ounces over the same five years, as implantable-device growth outpaced any dental decline. See dental palladium alloys for the full palladium dental alloy picture.
PGM Radioisotopes in Radiotherapy: Iridium-192, Palladium-103 and Ruthenium-106#
Three PGMs supply a clinical radioisotope: iridium-192 for HDR brachytherapy, palladium-103 for permanent seed implants and ruthenium-106 for eye-tumor plaques.
| Isotope | Half-life | Modality | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iridium-192 | 73.8 days | HDR brachytherapy | Mean gamma energy 0.38 MeV; decays by beta-minus and electron capture; first used 1958 |
| Palladium-103 | 17.0 days | LDR permanent seed implant | Decays by electron capture; mean photon energy 21 keV; used mainly in prostate seed implants |
| Ruthenium-106 | 1.02 years | Episcleral eye-tumor plaque | Decays by beta-minus; maximum energy 3.54 MeV |
An iridium-192 HDR source's active core is typically 3.5 millimeters long and 0.6 millimeters in diameter, sealed inside a 0.85 to 0.90 millimeter outer-diameter stainless steel capsule, per source-geometry data for the Nucletron Flexisource and Varian GammaMed Plus systems. Across manufacturers, encapsulated iridium-192 HDR sources typically run 5 to 11 millimeters long and 0.8 to 1 millimeter in outer diameter. The isotope's 73.8-day half-life halves its activity roughly every quarter, so clinics exchange HDR sources several times a year and return the spent iridium, a small but continuous, non-discretionary replacement flow.
Platinum's Medical Demand in the PGM Market#
Platinum's medical demand reached 332,000 ounces (332 koz) in 2026, forecast by the World Platinum Investment Council's Platinum Quarterly Q1 2026, up from 235,000 ounces in 2016, a 41% rise across the eleven-year series. Medical demand made up about 4% of total platinum demand in 2026 on WPIC's own chart, a small but exceptionally stable slice of the wider platinum group metals market, where industrial demand overall reached 24% of total platinum demand in 2025 and a forecast 29% in 2026.
| Year | Platinum medical demand (koz) |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 235 |
| 2017 | 235 |
| 2018 | 235 |
| 2019 | 277 |
| 2020 | 256 |
| 2021 | 267 |
| 2022 | 278 |
| 2023 | 292 |
| 2024 | 308 |
| 2025 | 320 |
| 2026 (forecast) | 332 |
Source: WPIC Platinum Quarterly Q1 2026, Table 2.
Medical demand fell from 277,000 ounces in 2019 to 256,000 ounces in 2020, a 7.6% drop WPIC attributes to deferred elective and interventional procedures during the pandemic. Every year since has risen, resuming the series' otherwise uninterrupted upward trend. On WPIC's 2026 forecast chart, medical's 4% share of total platinum demand sits behind chemical demand's 8% and glass's 5%, but ahead of petroleum's 2%, electrical's 1% and hydrogen's 1%, the other five segments that make up total platinum industrial demand.
Buyers sourcing medical-grade platinum or Pt-Ir alloy for device or dental manufacturing can compare current PGM products, including wire, foil and sputtering targets, before requesting a quote.
Platinum in Medicine FAQ#
What are five uses of platinum in medicine?#
Platinum serves medicine in chemotherapy drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin), implantable electrode alloys (Pt-10Ir), dental alloys and radiotherapy isotopes (via iridium-192), plus surgical instruments and laboratory labware made from platinum's corrosion-resistant metal.
Why is Pt-10Ir used for pacemaker and neurostimulator electrodes?#
Pt-10Ir is chosen for electrodes because it is radiopaque (density 21.5 g/cm3), corrosion-immune in body fluid, and has a wide electrochemical window for safe tissue stimulation, with iridium adding the mechanical strength and spring temper pure platinum lacks. Iridium oxide coatings raise the electrode's charge-injection capacity further.
Is palladium being phased out of dental alloys?#
Palladium's dental & biomedical demand fell 22% from 208,000 to 163,000 ounces between 2021 and 2025, per Johnson Matthey, as all-ceramic and CAD/CAM restorations displace metal-ceramic crowns, and Johnson Matthey forecasts a further fall to 151,000 ounces in 2026. Platinum's own dental & biomedical demand line rose over the same period, so the decline is specific to palladium rather than a PGM-wide retreat from dentistry.
What are platinum's symbol, atomic number and CAS number?#
Platinum has the symbol Pt, atomic number 78 and CAS number 7440-06-4, the element identity behind every compound and alloy on this page. Its full properties are covered on platinum (Pt), element 78.