Combination of 1st and 2nd Week Dosing of Glass Yttrium-90 Microspheres for Superselective Radioembolization.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The aim of this study was to address the feasibility of combination of 1st and 2nd week dosing of glass microspheres in the setting of selective radioembolization for large hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Yttrium-90 radioembolization was performed in 53 patients with single nodular hepatocellular carcinomas larger than 5 cm. A total of 32 patients underwent radioembolization with glass microspheres from a single calibration date (single-dosing group), and 21 patients were treated with a combination of 1st and 2nd week dosing of glass microspheres (combined-dosing group). In the combined-dosing group, the lobar hepatic arteries and subsidiary tumor-feeding arteries were commonly treated with 1st and 2nd week dosing of glass microspheres, respectively.

RESULTS

The combined-dosing group tended to have a lower frequency of pain requiring analgesics without statistical significance (p=0.085). The objective response rate at 3 months in single-dosing group and combined-dosing group was 46.9% (15 out of 32) and 66.7% (14 out of 21), respectively.

CONCLUSION

The combined 1st and 2nd week dosing of glass microspheres demonstrated an acceptable toxicity and tumor response when both a lobar hepatic artery and a small tumor-feeding artery need to be treated in one session.