Targeted therapies gain ground on hard-to-treat liver tumors

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Targeted therapies gain ground on hard-to-treat liver tumors Radioactive microspheres treat lesions but spare healthy surrounding tissue, improving patients' odds against some of the deadliest cancers BY ANDREW KENNEDY, M.D., FACRO Dr. Kennedy is co-medical director of Wake Radiology Oncology in Cary, NC. Not long ago, our approach to treating difficult metastatic tumors was to "spray and pray." We knew that chemotherapy and other traditional treatment approaches could cause great damage and had a limited chance of successfully destroying the entire tumor. At the time, a proven safer and more effective option did not exist, and patients were desperately in need of treatment. Fortunately, as our knowledge of the complexities of advanced liver tumors has grown, so has our ability to develop treatments that target and treat tumors while avoiding harmful side effects to normal tissue. TREATMENT CHALLENGES Over the past 10 years, we have noticed a shift toward targeted therapies in numerous tumor types of cancer, including breast, lung, lymphomas, and colorectal. Some of the most significant treatment advances have been realized with the development of targeted and innovative therapies to treat liver tumors. Historically, these types of tumors are difficult to treat, making liver cancers some of the deadliest forms of cancer. Colorectal liver metastases present one of the greatest challenges. Each year, more than 150,000 U.S. patients will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and at least 80% will see their cancer spread to the liver.

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