The majority of patients with advanced colorectal cancer die from hepatic metastases caused by disease progression; therefore, several novel technologies are in clinical development to potentially improve local control of liver disease. Radioembolization is a technique for administering radiotherapy internally to unresectable primary or secondary hepatic malignancies in a single procedure. This technique involves the injection of resin or glass micros spheres that contain 90Y into the arterial supply of the liver. Clinical trials of radioembolization used with concomitant radiosensitizing chemotherapy have shown promising results in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Several reports suggest that radioembolization is associated with significant downsizing of liver metastases to permit subsequent surgical resection. In this article, the rationale for combining radioembolization with the cytotoxic and molecularly targeted agents licensed for the systemic treatment of colorectal cancer is outlined. Clinical data from trials of radioembolization with concomitant systemic treatment are reviewed, with an emphasis on the appropriateness of primary end points in large-scale trials and the practical aspects of surgical resection in patients whose tumors are successfully downsized by this chemoradiation approach.

Reference:

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology 6, 687-697 (December 2009)

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I love coffee, do you? I usually drink 5-6 cups per day. Is this good for me or not?

Some researcher said that coffee is the precipitation factor for heart attack, but now it is proved that there is no relation between drinking coffee and heart attack, nowadays some research shows that drinking coffee reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 30 percent and also have some beneficial effect for colon cancer. So let’s start drinking more coffee and free from diabetes…….

Source: click here

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