Clinical study affirms efficacy of SIRT with SIR-Spheres microspheres

New clinical research has highlighted the benefits of treating metastatic colorectal cancer with SIR-SPheres microspheres.

A large multi-centre clinical study has re-affirmed that Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) using SIR-Spheres microspheres is safe and effective in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

SIR-Spheres microspheres are fully pre-market approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a form of radiation therapy for colorectal liver metastases. They are used either alone or alongside systemic chemotherapy and are usually administered via the hepatic artery, which supplies blood to the liver.

The new studies aimed to evaluate the overall survival rates of patients and tumour response to using this type of therapy, specifically in patients who are no longer responding to chemotherapy.

Dr Andrew Kennedy, director of radiation and oncology research at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, and lead investigator, explained that patients in the study had long histories of pre-treatment. He said: "These research findings should help to further define the role of SIRT in helping to shrink or control the tumors and prolong patient survival."

The researchers reported median survival rates of 13, nine and eight months in patients who had received one, two or three prior lines of chemotherapy. There were also no significant differences in adverse affects, prompting them to conclude that SIRT with SIR-Spheres microspheres provides a "favourable risk/benefit ratio" in patients who have failed chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer.