Yttrium-90 Internal Radiation Therapy

Yttrium-90 is a therapeutic device that delivers radiation directly to tumors in the liver using tiny beads. The tiny beads (or intrahepatic microspheres) measure one third the diameter of a human hair, and are embedded with a radioactive element called yttrium-90.

To direct this treatment at tumors in the liver, the physician first makes a small incision in the patient's leg and places a long, flexible plastic tube called a catheter, into the femoral artery, which is the major blood vessel in the leg. Guided by fluoroscopy (an X-ray imaging technique that projects views of the inside of the body onto a screen) the physician then moves the catheter up through the blood vessels to the hepatic artery, which is one of two blood vessels that feeds the liver. The physician guides the catheter into the branch of the hepatic artery that supplies blood to the cancerous tumor in the liver and infuses the beads through the catheter. This is performed in our hospital's interventional radiology suite. Although they are heavily sedated, the patients remain conscious throughout the procedure. They generally spend one night in the hospital and are discharged the next morning.

There are many advantages to yttrium-90 therapy as compared to traditional radiation, chemotherapy, or chemoembolization. For example, a limited number of treatments may be capable of achieving the same therapeutic efficacy as multiple treatments with chemotherapy or chemoembolization. Additionally, for patients who have compromised liver function, this therapy is ideal as it seems to have fewer side effects than traditional radiation or chemotherapy.

Types of Yttrium-90 Therapies

In our Liver Cancer Program, TheraSphere® is currently being used as a treatment option for certain patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Over the last six years, more than 120 patients with HCC have been treated with this form of therapy.

SIR-Spheres® are currently being used as treatment for patients with unresectable colon/rectal metastases to the liver who have failed to respond to systemic chemotherapy. In our Liver Cancer Program we have treated more than 20 patients with SIR-Spheres.

Return to top of page