Other types of internal radiation therapy

For some cancers, you may be referred to a nuclear medicine specialist to have another type of internal radiation therapy.

Learn more about:

• Radionuclide therapy
• SIRT

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Radionuclide therapy

Also known as radioisotope therapy, this involves radioactive material being taken by mouth as a capsule or liquid or given by injection. The material spreads throughout the body, but particularly targets cancer cells. It delivers high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells with minimal damage to normal tissues.

Different radionuclides are used to treat different cancers. The most common radionuclide therapy is radioactive iodine, which is taken as a capsule and used for thyroid cancer. For more on this, see Thyroid cancer or call 13 11 20.

Other radionuclide therapies include:

• peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT), which uses a small amount of a radioactive substance that has been combined with a cell-targeting protein (peptide). PRRT is used to treat neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) of the bowel, pancreas and lung; and some advanced prostate cancers.
• injection with a small amount of bone-seeking radioactive liquid to target cancer that has spread to the bone.
• injection of radioactive antibodies to treat lymphoma.

SIRT 

Also known as radioembolisation, SIRT stands for selective internal radiation therapy. This method delivers high doses of radiation to cancers in the liver. It uses tiny pellets called microspheres, which contain a radioactive substance. The pellets are injected into a thin tube called a catheter, which is inserted into the main artery (hepatic artery) that supplies blood to the liver.

Radiation from the microspheres damages the cancer cells and their blood supply. This means the cancers can’t get the nutrients they need and they shrink.

For more on this, see Liver cancer.