Children's Healthcare of Atlanta is one of the first pediatric centers to offer Y90 Radioembolization treatment to pediatric patients with liver cancer.
The system recently completed treatment on its first patient in collaboration with Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorder Center and Interventional Radiology, according to a March 27 system news release.
Y90 is a minimally invasive procedure in which small radioactive beads are placed into the arteries of a liver tumor. This therapy can cure small liver tumors or shrink larger tumors for easier surgical removal, according to the release. The beads stay inside the liver with little to no radiation leaving the patient's body. The radioactivity fades between seven and 10 days but can keep working on the tumor for weeks or months.
Although a common treatment for adults, Y90 is fairly new to pediatric treatment, Anne Gill, MD, associate director of interventional radiology at Children's, said in the release.