Once a patient has been diagnosed with inoperable colorectal liver metastases, there is new hope thanks to an innovative treatment called Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT). This minimally invasive form of brachytherapy has been successful at extending the lives of the more than 1200 liver cancer patients who have been treated in the United States since SIR-Spheres® yttrium-90 microspheres were formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002. Worldwide, more than 2,000 patients have been treated, and the growing list of major oncology centers offering SIRT includes hospitals and cancer centers in the United States, Europe, Australia, Israel and Asia.
In the United States, SIR-Spheres microspheres are approved by the FDA for treatment of metastatic liver tumors in patients whose primary disease is cancer of the colon or rectum. Clinical trials are in process to test the effectiveness of SIRT in treating primary liver tumors and liver tumors that have metastasized to the liver from other primary sites, such as breast and pancreatic cancers.
