Читать книгу The Cancer Directory - Dr. Daniel Rosy - Страница 117

This is a system whereby millions of microscopic glass beads embedded with a radioactive element are delivered directly into the blood vessels feeding a tumour.

It is currently used for tumours in the liver – both primary and secondary. The tiny beads (one-third the diameter of a human hair) are passed through a catheter placed in the femoral artery (in the thigh). They are then guided via the hepatic artery (the main blood vessel in the liver) to the blood vessel supplying the tumour. The beads remain in the body and lose their radiation within two weeks.

Patients can return home the same day, and there is no risk to family members. Possible side-effects include vomiting, mild fever, abdominal pain and gastric ulcers but, so far, the main complaints have been fatigue and nausea.

Clinical trials in many different countries so far show that patients are living twice as long with this treatment – and with good quality of life. It has also been successfully combined with chemotherapy. There have even been one or two recorded incidences where a liver cancer had shrunk sufficiently to become operable, or potentially curable. Its limitations, as with all forms of treatments involving radiation, are related to the size and volume of the tumour, as too large a tumour would require an unsafe dose of radiation.