Colorectal Cancer: In Treatment: Liver Directed Treatments
Internal Radiation Therapy
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SIRT (Selective Internal Radiation Therapy) also known as radioembolization is a liver directed, outpatient radiation treatment for the management of inoperable liver tumors, from either primary liver cancer or colorectal metastases. SIRT delivers millions of tiny radioactive microspheres (beads) called SIR-Spheres® directly to the liver tumor to cause tumor destruction. SIRT is a non-surgical option for patients who are not candidates for surgical resection or ablation . SIR-Spheres are made of a biocompatible resin material. The SIR-Spheres microspheres or beads are very tiny (average size is 32 microns) about the diameter of a strand of human hair. SIR-Spheres preserve the blood vessels to allow for future therapies. Each yttrium-90 microsphere is charged with which will penetrate the tumor tissue up to 11 millimeters. SIR-Spheres are the only FDA-approved microsphere for patients with inoperable metastatic colorectal cancer to the liver. SIR-Spheres are administered by aninterventional radiologist in the radiology suite. Under local anesthesia, a small needle puncture is made in the groin area into the femoral artery . A small flexible guidewire is inserted and positioned into the artery where the microspheres will be delivered. A narrow tube, known as a catheter is then guided over the wire and positioned into the selected artery where the SIR-Spheres will be delivered to the tumors. The advantages of radioembolization therapy, documented by clinical research, is that microspheres, when used in combination with chemotherapy or alone, provide an improvement in liver tumor control by shrinking the tumor and delayingprogression in the liver.
Side Effects: Many patients experience nausea and pain which normally subside in a short time after the procedure and are treated with routine medications. Patients may also develop a mild fever that may last up to one week and fatigue which may last several weeks. Major complications are rare but may include small number of microspheres inadvertently reaching other organs in the body, such as the stomach, intestine or pancreas.
Recovery: The entire procedure takes about 90 minutes. You will be sleepy during the procedure, but able to communicate with your doctor and the team. Most patients return home four to six hours following treatment.
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