SIRT Treatment of Liver Metastases in a Patient with Cancer
'Selective Internal RadioTherapy' (SIRT), also called 'Radio-embolisation' (RE), is a method of treating malignant liver tumours, whether those tumours originate from the liver itself (e.g. hepatocellular carcinoma or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma), or have spread to the liver from elsewhere in the body (e.g. colon or rectal cancer, breast cancer, neuroendocrine cancer).
During the SIRT procedure, millions of 'beads', called microspheres, are injected into the artery that supplies the liver. The beads are tiny and can only be seen under a microscope. Each is smaller than the width of a human hair.
These microspheres contain a radioactive isotope which emits radiation that travels only a very short distance within the liver. Once injected into the liver, the microspheres emit radiation, which treats the tumour cells near the beads. The beads also help to cut off the blood supply to the tumours, thus starving them of oxygen.
