The Brain and Spine Institute is made up of experts in the field of neuroscience in order to bring patients the best healthcare in East Tennessee for a full range of neurological diseases and disorders.
myClipboard
myClipboard
Save news, events, articles and doctor's information to your personal clipboard for later reference.
Add items by clicking the 
button.
Create an account
Centers of Excellence
-
-
We provide a comprehensive continuum of cancer services, including prevention, outreach, diagnostic, treatment and support services delivered by our highly skilled staff with compassion and care.
-
The Center for Women & Children's Health is a hub for supporting women's and children's individual healthcare needs. The center provides support, research and unmatched patient-centered care.
-
Emergency and Trauma Services is the only Level I Trauma Center in the area and serves as the tertiary referral center for medical care in East Tennessee, serving Knox County and 21 surrounding counties.
-
The Heart Lung Vascular Institute brings together expertise in clinical care, teaching and research. Patients receive exceptional healthcare combined with patient-centered care.
Share
Print
Selective Internal Radiation Therapy
SIR-Spheres microspheres are an innovative means of treating liver cancer. In cases where it is not possible to surgically remove the liver tumors, SIR-Spheres microspheres can be used to deliver targeted, internal radiation therapy directly to the tumor.
This new therapy is called Selective Internal Radiation Therapy, also known as SIRT and is available at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. This technique uses millions of tiny polymer beads or microspheres that contain a radioactive element called yttrium-90. SIR-Spheres microspheres are very small, approximately 32 microns in size and are about one-third the diameter of a strand of hair. SIRT usually is administered as an outpatient procedure by a specially trained physician known as an interventional radiologist. A small catheter is guided into the liver and the SIR-Spheres microspheres are infused through the catheter. The microspheres with the radioactive yttrium-90 are carried by the bloodstream directly to the tumors in the liver where they preferentially lodge in the small vessels feeding the tumor and deliver their dose of radiation. Unlike conventional external beam radiation, which can only be applied to limited areas of the body, SIR-Spheres microspheres selectively irradiate the tumors and therefore have the ability to deliver more potent doses of radiation directly to the cancer cells over a longer period of time.
SIR-Spheres microspheres were developed in the 1980s in Perth, Western Australia. Since then, the product and the procedure has been refined and many hundreds of patients have been treated. SIR-Spheres microspheres received PMA approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2002.
About SIRT
- Do I qualify for this treatment?
- How are the microspheres administered?
- SIRT treatment options
- What are the SIRT side effects?
FAQs
Liver cancer
Understanding colorectal cancer
What to expect from your treatment
If you would like to find out more about this treatment, call 865.305.4487 for your appointment.
For more information about oncology services, visit the Cancer Institute.