Y-90 therapy helping liver patients in Kingston

The minimally invasive procedure eliminates tumours from the liver using a radioacitve isotope.

A new medical procedure is giving liver patients at Kingston Health Sciences Centre a better shot at survival.

Called the Y-90 therapy, it is a minimally invasive procedure that eliminates the tumour from the liver using a radioacitve isotope, Yttrium-90.

Dr. Emidio Trulli, KHSC's Interventional Radiologist and Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Radiology at Queen’s University, says this is personalized care that use cutting edge technology.

He says this is different that other types of cancer treatments where radiation is beemed into the patient and is often passing through parts of the body before it reaches the cancerous tissue.

Trullli says before the Y-90, they would often use techniques that would require surgical procedures to remove the tumour.

Trulli says before it arrived in Kingston, patients would have gone to Toronto or London to get Y-90 therapy.

He says it a game-changer for patients who would have had a difficult time going through surgery and recovering afterwards.

10 patients have used the Y-90 therapy since it was implemented at KHSC last September.

Trulli says some of the results have been remarkable.

Story by Ken Hashizume