IsoRay, a medical technology company, has announced another milestone – the treatment of a brain tumor that had metastasized from esophageal cancer utilizing the company's liquid Cesium-131 (Cesitrex) which recently was FDA cleared for internal radiation therapy.
Dr Randy Sorum, radiation oncologist and Dr Ryan Halpin, neurosurgeon at Capital Medical Center successfully completed the world’s first GliaSite radiation therapy system (RTS) implant utilizing liquid Cesium-131 (Cesitrex).
Dr Sorum said: "The patient was a 72 year old male who was diagnosed with recurrent brain cancer that had metastasized from esophageal cancer. Earlier attempts to control this cancer including surgery, external brain radiation and stereotactic radiosurgery had failed and the metastasis returned."
Due to the need for irradiating the newly resected surgical bed, Dr Sorum decided to utilize GliaSite RTS, a balloon catheter system that delivers a high dose of radiation to the surgical bed, minimizing radiation to uninvolved healthy brain tissue.
Dr Sorum said that the unique benefit of GliaSite is its capability to deliver radiation directly to the high risk areas for recurrence, unlike additional external beam radiation which likely would have damaging effects to healthy brain tissue.
"GliaSite® RTS in combination with Cesitrex® offers the additional benefit of improved quality of life for the patient. To date the majority of my patients treated with liquid I-125 (Iotrex®) and GliaSite® RTS have exceeded my personal survival expectations and those reported in published results. Most important, the patient receiving Cesitrex® did great through the entire treatment process with no post-operative side effects to date," Dr Sorum added.
IsoRay is the exclusive manufacturer of Cesium-131. The pioneering brachytherapy is one of the most significant advances in internal radiation therapy in 20 years. Cesium-131 allows for the precise treatment of many different cancers because of its unrivaled blend of high energy and its 9.7 day half-life (its unequaled speed in giving off therapeutic radiation).
In addition to its CMS codes, Cesium-131 is FDA-cleared and holds a CE mark for international sales in seed form for the treatment of brain cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, ocular melanoma cancer, colorectal cancer, gynecologic cancer, head and neck cancer and other cancers throughout the body.
The treatment can be deployed using several delivery methods including single seed applicators, implantable strands and seed sutured mesh, and several implantable devices including the GliaSite radiation therapy system, the world’s only liquid radiation balloon catheter device used in the treatment of brain cancer.