Cancer treatments, for most who can have them, are typically limited to chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery. But not all patients are candidates for all therapeutic options.

Some patients are elderly or have health conditions like heart issues, limited lung function or a complicated history of blood clotting. And while non-surgical options are sometimes effective in these cases, there are some cancers that are resistant to the other traditional treatments.

Renal cell carcinoma is typically treated with surgery and is well known to be resistant to chemo and radiation. But for those patients who are not ideal surgical candidates, some good news is on the horizon — a new study is aiming to improve patient outcomes by applying the treatments differently.

Radiation therapy is typically delivered from outside the body, so the study will adapt the treatment and target kidney cancer tumors from inside the body via microscopic beads called TheraSphere Glass Microspheres. These glass spheres produced by Boston Scientific contain a specific type of radiation called radioactive yttrium (Y-90).

The doctors running the study expect the beads to distribute 10 times the volume of radiation as external radiation.

The hope is that the volume of radiation and direct targeting of the tumor will destroy the cancer cells while protecting the surrounding organs.

The Phase 2 trial is being funded by Boston Scientific and being carried out by Researchers at London Health Sciences Centre Research Institute.

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