90Y plays a significant role in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), leukemia, and lymphoma, although it has the potential to treat a range of tumors.
[11] Once injected, the microspheres become lodged in blood vessels surrounding the tumor and the resulting radiation damages the nearby tissue.
[12] The distribution of the microspheres is dependent on several factors, including catheter tip positioning, distance to branching vessels, rate of injection, properties of particles, like size and density, and variability in tumor perfusion.
[12] Radioembolization with 90Y significantly prolongs time-to-progression (TTP) of HCC,[13] has a tolerable adverse event profile, and improves patient quality of life more than do similar therapies.
As 90Y undergoes beta decay, broad spectrum bremsstrahlung radiation is emitted and is detectable with standard gamma cameras or SPECT.