TheraSphere

TheraSphere is a radiotherapy treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that consists of millions of microscopic, radioactive glass microspheres (20–30 micrometres in diameter) being infused into the arteries that feed liver tumors. These microspheres then embolize, lodging themselves in the liver's capillaries and bathing the malignancy in high levels of yttrium-90 radiation. It is currently approved as a Humanitarian Device, meaning effectiveness has not been proven, for patients as a neoadjuvant to surgery or transplantation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is being used at a number of clinical centers in the United States.