What if a person has a large tumor, or a large number of tumors?
In this case, we can’t cut out or burn out the tumors, because a person with cirrhosis wouldn’t have enough healthy liver tissue left in reserve to tolerate it. Instead, we use interventional therapies, such as radiation and chemotherapy, to try to slow the growth or reduce the size of the tumors. One of the most promising new interventional therapies is yttrium-90 bead implantation. This non-invasive procedure uses millions of tiny beads coated with a radioactive element — yttrium-90 — to deliver radiation directly to tumors. The beads are inject into a catheter leading to the main blood vessel that feeds the tumors. Once they reach the tumors, they stay there, blocking the blood supply that feeds tumor growth and destroying the tumor cells with radiation. The treatment is extremely effective at slowing down cancer growth, and can shrink tumors in many cases, as well. In some cases, tumors shrink so much that they become small enough for resection or ablation.
