Surgery is the standard of care for resectable solid tumors.
Loco-regional approaches, in combination with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, are standard therapy in the following settings:
In the presence of a combination of systemic chemotherapy, radiotherapy is the standard approach, whereby radiotherapy can trigger an anti-cancer immune response that can be further exploited by the new immune-stimulator drugs.
Controlled administration of radionuclides falls in the field of loco-regional therapies for the treatment of tumors. Administration of β-emitting radionuclides vs external radiotherapy presents several advantages: high radiation dose delivery (improved efficacy), low surrounding tissue penetration, low impact on blood vessels, high control of administered energy (limited side effects).
Radiation therapy based on β-emitting microspheres is currently approved in clinical practice only for intra-arterial administration in hepatic tumors (with proven safety and efficacy); multiple work-up procedures are needed to avoid unwanted diffusion of radionuclides in the adjacent organs.
Radionuclides are administered through a delivery system device engineered to guarantee a precise delivery of the required dose of radiation where it is needed, thus overcoming some disadvantages of first line treatment options.
Additional applications for other loco-regional treatments are being researched.