What is Y-90 radiation treatment for liver cancer?
Radioembolization, also called Y-90 Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT), is a minimally invasive liver-directed therapy for liver cancer that either arises from the liver (primary liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma) or has metastasized to the liver from other organs most commonly the colon or rectum (secondary liver cancer) that cannot be removed with surgery.
Can y90 be used with chemotherapy?
Jan 27, 2017 · Jeremy McBride, M.D., an interventional radiologist with Mayo Clinic Health System, suggested a minimally invasive radiation treatment known as Y-90 to strategically attack the tumors invading Turnbull’s liver. The treatment works by injecting tiny particles into the arteries feeding the tumors with blood.
What is yttrium-90 (Y-90) radiotherapy?
Radioembolization (Yttrium-90 embolization or selective internal radiation therapy) Treatment for: Primary or metastatic liver cancer. Why it’s done: All cancers are susceptible to radiation, if high enough doses of radiation can be concentrated in a cancer.
What is Y-90 radioembolization?
Our team of experts believes that Yttrium-90 (Y-90) radiotherapy is the best option for you at this time. Y-90 radiotherapy sends radiation directly into the blood vessels that feed the tumors. This treatment does not cure liver tumors. But, it often controls or shrinks them. After this therapy, your doctors may advise other options such as
Does Y-90 cure cancer?
The treatment is not a cure for cancer in the liver, but it has been shown to prolong lives for months or years and to greatly improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Patients experience few, if any, side effects from Y90 treatment, which is performed in an outpatient setting.
How long does a Y-90 procedure last?
Y-90 radiotherapy is done by an interventional radiologist, a doctor who specializes in procedures that use X-ray guidance. The treatment is done in several steps over a few months. Step 1 is a procedure called a mapping angiogram. It takes 2 to 4 hours.
How many Y-90 treatments can you have?
Patients are typically limited to two treatments, although doctors can take another approach — only with concentrated chemotherapy and larger particles — once radiation limits are reached.Jan 27, 2017
What are the benefits of yttrium-90?
Benefits of Yttrium-90 Therapy Painless for most people. Safe and well-tolerated. Able to deliver a higher radiation dose than external radiation therapy or radiation given outside the body. Helpful in preserving healthy tissue, as the radiation releases close to the tumor.
What are the side effects of Y-90 treatment?
The most common side effect after Y-90 radiotherapy is fatigue (feeling very tired). This can be mild or severe. It can last up to a few weeks. Other side effects include: • Poor appetite • Mild abdominal pain • Slight fever • Nausea These symptoms should slowly go away over 1 to 2 weeks.
Are you radioactive after Y-90 treatment?
After treatment with Y-90 radioactive material, you will emit a small amount of radiation. These levels are quite low. After treatment, you have no special precautions to follow to limit exposing other people to radiation. It is safe for people to be around you.
How much does Y-90 treatment cost?
The primary outcome was the overall difference in cost between Y-90 vs TACE for treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma at Einstein Medical Center. The price of a Y-90 ranges from $30,000 to $35,000 with an average of $32,500.
What type of radiation is Y-90?
Y90 is a pure beta-particle-emitter with a physical half-life of 64.2 hours, 0.94 MeV decay energy, and an average penetrative depth of 2.4mm in human tissue.May 1, 2018
How long do chemo beads last?
The beads will continue to release radiation over the course of two weeks following treatment, gradually decreasing to insignificant levels and with few side effects.
Is Y-90 a brachytherapy?
The Yttrium-90 irradiates from within and can be viewed as "internal" radiation or "brachytherapy." Radioembolization is a palliative, not a curative, treatment. Patients may benefit by extending their lives and improving their quality of life.
What is the difference between TACE and Y-90?
Y90 is better tolerated with a smaller side effect profile when compared to TACE therapy. However, Y90 is an expensive treatment option, which isn't feasible for certain patient populations, such as those on Medicaid. Y90 is a very well-tolerated procedure.
What is Y-90 SIRT?
What is Radioembolization (Y-90 SIRT)? Radioembolization, also called Y-90 Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT), is a minimally invasive liver-directed therapy for liver cancer that either arises from the liver (primary liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma) or has metastasized to the liver from other organs most commonly ...
How long does it take for a tumor to decay?
The whole procedure may take around 60–90 minutes.
What is the liver's blood supply?
The liver is unique because it has two blood supplies—the hepatic artery and the portal vein. The normal liver receives about 75 percent of its blood supply through the portal vein and only 25 percent through the hepatic artery. But when a tumor grows in the liver, it receives almost all of its blood supply from the hepatic artery. ...
What are the benefits of a liver transplant?
Other benefits include: Delays the time to tumor progression (the time it takes for a tumor to regrow) Extends overall survival rate. Potentially downsizes or downstages tumors for liver resection, ablation, or transplantation giving patients a genuine chance for rehabilitation. Provides palliation of symptoms.
How long after SIRT procedure can you return home?
S ince you will have received a radioactive treatment, there are some simple precautions that need to be taken during the first 24 hours following the SIRT procedure. Very importantly, there is no danger in returning home immediately after the procedure is completed.
Can liver cancer be treated with radiation?
This typically happens after one treatment but treatments can be repeated if necessary to achieve complete tumor destruction. The targeted nature and high level of precision of this therapy enable doctors to deliver more radiation to the liver tumors than would be possible using conventional external beam radiotherapy.
Treatments & Procedures
Radioembolization (Yttrium-90 embolization or selective internal radiation therapy)
Risks
Small risks of bleeding or infection. Radiation can cause harm to the normal liver, and non-target radiation damage to the stomach, bowel, or lung can rarely occur.
Post-procedure
Bed rest for 2-6 hours after each procedure, then discharge home. Although the radioactivity emitted from a treated patient is minimal, some radiation precautions may be prescribed by your interventional radiologist. A post-embolization syndrome consisting of fatigue, pain, and/or nausea can often occur, and may last several days or more.
Follow-up
If liver cancer is present in both lobes of the liver, a second radiation delivery session targeting the opposite side of the liver may be arranged for several weeks after the first.
For More Information
For more information or to schedule an appointment, please visit the contact us page.
When was yttrium 90 used?
Interventional radiologists have been the leaders in the use of intra-arterial yttrium-90 radioembolization, since its introduction in 2000, to treat liver cancer.
Can alcohol cause liver problems?
Alcohol Consumption in Late Teens Can Lead to Liver Problems in Adulthood. Jan. 21, 2018 — Alcohol is the leading cause of liver cirrhosis and liver-related deaths. Results of a large long-term study in Sweden have confirmed that drinking during late adolescence could be the first step ...
Does liver tissue help tumors?
Nov. 25, 2019 — A study discovered that healthy liver tissue surrounding a tumor activates a defense mechanism that restrains tumor growth . Remarkably, the researchers found that hyperactivation of this mechanism ...
Is radioembolization a curative treatment?
Radioembolization is a palliative, not a curative, treatment -- but patients benefit by having their lives extended and experiencing fewer side effects (such as the fatigue that can last for seven to 10 days after standard cancer therapy).
What Can I Expect from The Procedure?
- One to two weeks before the delivery of the Y90 to the liver tumors, you will have appointments with your interventional radiologist, who will test your blood and perform an angiogram—an imaging procedure in which dye is injected into the bloodstream and X-ray images are taken. Th…
Are There Any Risks?
- The procedure is relatively safe when performed by an experienced interventional radiologist. Major complications include: 1. Post-embolization syndrome consisting of consisting of pain, nausea, and low-grade fever 2. Irritation of the stomach or small intestine, including ulcers 3. Fatigue, which is typically significant and can last from a few days to a few weeks
After The Procedure
- Most patients are scheduled early in the day in our outpatient office and recover in their own private room, going home in the afternoon. Imaging is performed on the day of the procedure to confirm the location within the liver where the radiation particles have been deposited. For the next week you may experience a low-grade fever, lethargy, or fatigue. Pain is not a common sid…
Follow Up
- We will schedule a follow up appointment with you about two weeks after the procedure. Chemotherapy can typically be restarted one to two weeks after the procedure. Follow up imaging, such as CT, MRI, or PET CT, is usually performed approximately eight weeks after the procedure.
Locations
- Our interventional radiologists perform Y90 treatment in safe and comfortable outpatient offices. We have locations in Manhattan and Westchester.