Introduction of Y90-PET-CT post radioembolisation therapy scans
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Introduction to the clinical workflow of Y90-PET-CT post-therapy scans to patients undergoing Y90-Microspheres radioembolisation therapy
IRAS ID
313280
Contact name
Heather Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust,
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Yttrium-90, attached to microspheres, usually referred to as 90Y-microspheres or Y-90 radioembolisation, can be used in some cases to treat patients with liver tumours or liver metastasis. The treatment aim is to infuse the 90Y-microspheres into the patient's liver. The microspheres get trapped in the lesions of micro-blood vessels while the yttrium-90, a radioactive compound, delivers radiation doses locally at these sites and damages the diseased cells. Therapy is performed in such a way the 90Y-microspheres are localised in the tumour areas minimising damage to the healthy liver tissue. This treatment requires many steps involving professionals from different medical disciplines.
The day after the treatment, patients are scanned in the nuclear Medicine Department on a gamma camera. This post-therapy scan provides a 3-dimensional (3D) image of the distribution of the therapeutic agent in the patient's abdomen so an assessment of how much of the therapeutic agent has gone to the sites of disease can be performed.
In this research project, we would like to evaluate an alternative post-therapy scan to the one routinely performed on the gamma camera. The alternative scan is done on a PET-CT scanner and is referred to as Y90-PET-CT. This type of scan has been reported to provide improved quality images, providing more accurate information on the distribution of your therapeutic dose.
For this research project, we will invite a small number of patients undergoing this therapy to be scanned twice after treatment: with the current post-therapy scan on a gamma camera; and with the newly proposed scan method, Y90-PET-CT. Depending on the outcomes of this project, assessed by an expert panel of radiologists and medical physicists, we will determine whether we will introduce this new scanning method into clinical practice in the future.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0170
Date of REC Opinion
2 Aug 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion