What is the y90 procedure?
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.
What is a y90 procedure?
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 to expect when having radiation therapy?
The radiation is in the form of a radioactive isotope called Yttrium-90 or Y-90, which is fixed onto tiny glass or resin particles. Once a microcatheter is placed into the artery supplying the cancer, angiography is performed to confirm appropriate position, and the radioactive microspheres are injected into the artery.
What is y90 therapy?
Jul 21, 2021 · Y-90 radioembolization (RE) works two ways: The beads block off blood vessels, preventing blood flow to the tumor. This is called embolization. Cutting off the blood supply helps kill cancer cells. The beads lodge in the tumor (s) and give off a high dose of radiation to the tumor tissue around them.
Does Y90 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.
What are the side effects of Y90 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 Y90 treatment?
The Y90 has a half-life of 64.2 hours. This means that it will be non-radioactive in about a month's time.Oct 31, 2019
Is Y90 chemo or radiation?
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 chemotherapy or surgery.
How many times can you get Y-90?
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. “He could potentially have that multiple times to prolong his survival and keep him doing well,” Dr. McBride says.Jan 27, 2017
Can radiation shrink liver tumors?
Radiation therapy can shrink or kill tumor cells. At Memorial Sloan Kettering, we may recommend this approach if you have a primary liver tumor that can't be removed with surgery. It can be used alone or in combination with chemotherapy or other treatments.
Does Y90 make you sick?
Few patients experience some side effects called post-embolization syndrome, including nausea, vomiting and fever. Pain is the most common side effect that occurs because the blood supply to the treated area is cut off. It can readily be controlled by medications given by mouth or your IV.
What is the difference between TACE and Y90?
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.
Is microwave an ablation?
Microwave ablation (MWA) is a minimally-invasive treatment for cancer. MWA uses ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to guide placement of a needle-like probe into a tumor. MWA uses microwaves to heat and destroy the tumor. Doctors use MWA for the same indications as RFA.
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.
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.
Is liver embolization safe?
Because healthy liver tissue can be affected, there is a risk that liver function will get worse after embolization. This risk is higher if a large branch of the hepatic artery is embolized. Serious complications are not common, but they are possible.
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 ...
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. ...
How long does it take for a tumor to decay?
The whole procedure may take around 60–90 minutes.
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.
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.
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.
What is Y90 treatment?
In contrast to most nuclear medicine applications, Y90 is therapeutic and designed to treat rather than simply diagnose. It is estimated that 75% to 95% of patients see improvement from treatment, potentially extending their lives or improving survival rates. In this post we’ll take a look at Y90, what it is, and how it works.
What is Y90 therapy?
When is Y90 therapy indicated? Hepatic (liver) tumors (lesions or masses) may originate as a primary cancer of the liver such as hepatocellular cancer (90% of primary liver cancers) or may be another form of cancer that has metastasized to the region . There are many treatment options available for hepatic lesions.
How to avoid radiation?
As a precaution, the following is recommended: 1 Contact with others is limited over the week as the radiation diminishes 2 Patients shouldn’t sleep in the same bed as a partner over that week 3 Patients should avoid public transport that requires them to sit next to another person for more than two hours 4 Patients should avoid close contact with children or pregnant women.
What is Y90 used for?
Yttrium-90 (Y90) is a commonly used isotope within the nuclear medicine and radiation oncology communities for radiation therapy. When used for the treatment, Y90 is relied upon to provide a prescribed amount of radiation to a targeted area. Y90 is most commonly used during a radioembolization therapy, an internal radiation therapy.
Is radioembolization painful?
The radioembolization procedure is generally painless for patients. For a small number of patients, ulcers may develop in the stomach or duodenum – these are treated as any other type of ulcer.
What is the Ergo camera?
A camera such as the Ergo with its digital technology captures all data without any holes and provides a more accurate picture. After the mapping process is complete, the images are further analyzed by the medical team and then an exact amount of Y90 is prescribed to treat the lesion.
Does Y90 help with liver cancer?
Radioembolization with Y90 utilizes nuclear medicine to treat hepatic lesions. Most patients will see some improvement in their liver and it may improve survival and life expectancy rates, depending on the type of cancer. This treatment is not recommended in cases of severe kidney or liver dysfunction, abnormal blood clotting or blockages ...
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. T…
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.
What Is Y90?
When Is Y90 Therapy Indicated?
- Hepatic (liver) tumors (lesions or masses) may originate as a primary cancer of the liver such as hepatocellular cancer (90% of primary liver cancers) or may be another form of cancer that has metastasized to the region. There are many treatment options available for hepatic lesions. The choice for treatment is generally based on how they present, physician preference and treatmen…
Y90 Mapping and Its Role with Radioembolization Therapy
- There is a great deal of planning prior to performing a Y90 radioembolization. Here are a few steps: 1. The first step in the process is referred to as the “mapping”. The mapping process involves a very similar process to the radioembolization treatment itself; the patient is brought into interventional radiology and the vasculature of the liver tumor is examined. During this time…
Patient Precautions and Side-Effects
- The radioembolization procedure is generally painless for patients. For a small number of patients, ulcers may develop in the stomach or duodenum – these are treated as any other type of ulcer. Post-embolization syndrome (PES) is a side effect that is experienced by a few patients. This consists of vomiting, nausea, fever and pain, usually within the first 72 hours after treatmen…
Final Thoughts
- Radioembolization with Y90 utilizes nuclear medicine to treat hepatic lesions. Most patients will see some improvement in their liver and it may improve survival and life expectancy rates, depending on the type of cancer. This treatment is not recommended in cases of severe kidney or liver dysfunction, abnormal blood clotting or blockages of the bile ducts. Radioembolization ma…