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Therasphere

1. 10/29/01 Radioactive microspheres treat liver cancer Friday, Oct 26 2001 Dr. Andrew Kennedy, assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center, in Baltimore, and colleagues treated 19 patients with metastatic liver cancer (primarily secondary to colorectal cancer) with yttrium-90 insoluble glass microspheres (TheraSphere, MDS Nordion, Ottawa). As reported by Dr. Brian Carr, professor and chief of the liver cancer program, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania, and colleagues, treatment of primary hepatomas using the same radioactive microspheres appears to be both safe and well tolerated, even in patients whose livers are highly susceptible to radiation-induced damage.
   
   
2. 6/5/02 Experimental and Unconventional Search on Therasphere
   
   
3. 6/5/02 Colon Cancer Support Search on Therasphere
   
   
4. 11/06/01 ASCO: New Treatment, TheraSphere, May Be Welcome Alternative For Inoperable Liver Cancer BALTIMORE, MD -- May 15, 2001 -- Cancer specialists from the University of Maryland (UM) Greenebaum Cancer Center report that early results of a new treatment for inoperable liver cancer, known as TheraSphere, are promising. They reported their findings today at the 37th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO). The Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, is the first in the nation to successfully perform the procedure. Forty-five patients have undergone the procedure there since its introduction last fall, according to David Van Echo, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of the New Drug Development Program at the Greenebaum Cancer Center. "Most patients have shown a positive response, as marked by a reduction in tumor size or number of lesions, with minimal side effects," says Dr. Van Echo.
   
   
5. 11/06/01 Liver Services Liver and Biliary Malignancies Therasphere is a therapeutic device that has been approved for use in patients with liver cancer as a Humanitarian Use Device (HUD) by the FDA office of orphan products and granted a humanitarian device exemption (HDE 980006) for treatment of rare cancers. It was originally developed in 1986 and patented in 1988 It is currently being used at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), in the Liver Tumor Service of the Transplant Institute, for patients who have unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC or hepatoma). It is delivered to fully conscious patients by a catheter that is inserted into an artery in the groin, and delivered directly into the hepatic artery in the interventional vascular radiology suite, under direct monitoring, into either the right or left lobe of the liver. Normally, a 1-day hospital stay is needed. Patients typically receive only 2 treatments to each lobe of the liver. Thus for unilobar tumors only 2 treatments should be needed; or for bilobar tumors, a maximum of 4 treatments. Each treatment is given at approximately a 2-month interval
   
   
6. 11/06/01 LIVER CANCER MOVING FROM INOPERABLE DISEASE TO OUTPATIENT TREATMENT According to Brian Carr, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the liver tumor service at UPMC, TheraSphere offers the best chance for patients with inoperable liver cancer because TheraSphere allows doctors to deliver a much higher dose of radiation - up to five times the maximum possible dose with external beam radiation. "TheraSphere allows us to focus radiation directly on a tumor without damaging nearby non-cancerous tissues," said Dr. Carr. "The result is that patients are more comfortable and can tolerate the treatments better." Healthy tissue is spared despite the high concentration of radiation in the beads, according to Dr. Carr, because the beta radiation travels only an average of 2.5 mm in tissue. The ability to localize the treatment contributes to the lack of side effects, which means that TheraSphere can be used safely in patients with hepatitis and cirrhosis. Patients also stay out of the hospital for much longer periods than standard chemotherapy patients.
   
   
7. 11/06/01 New Treatment Option for Inoperable Liver Cancer Also showing favorable response to TheraSphere are patients with colorectal tumors. "Of seven patients in this category, two have died of progressive cancer outside the liver, but the other five are doing well six months after treatment," says Dr. Van Echo. "They had not been helped by conventional chemotherapy and the average length of survival with this particular diagnosis is three to six months. With TheraSphere treatment, they're all healthy, living longer and enjoying a higher quality of life."
   
   

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