Advances in nuclear oncology: microspheres for internal radionuclide therapy of liver tumours

Liver metastases cause the majority of deaths from colorectal cancer, and response to chemotherapy and external radiotherapy is poor. An alternative is internal radionuclide therapy using (90)Y labeled microspheres. These microspheres are very stable and have a proven efficacy in the field of treatment of primary or metastatic hepatic cancer. Whilst these glass spheres showed encouraging results in patients, their high density is a serious drawback. Currently, other materials with lower densities and other radioisotopes are being investigated in order to optimize this promising new therapy. Three major radiolabeled microsphere materials, viz. glass, resin-based and polymer-based, are now available for therapy or are being tested in animals. In this review the preparation, stability and degradation of these spheres are discussed.