Development of phosphate glass microspheres containing holmium for selective internal radiotherapy

Abstract

Selective internal radiotherapy is used to treat hepatocellular carcinoma. Glass microspheres containing β- particle emitter radionuclides are introduced into the liver close to the tumor. The microspheres are trapped in the arterioles which feed the tumor. The irradiation with βparticles can cause the death of cancer cells. In this work the development of phosphate glass microspheres containing holmium is proposed. 165Ho has a high cross section for neutron absorption enabling the production of 166Ho which decays to 166Er by emitting a β- particle. The microspheres were produced using the flame method and characterized by different techniques to evaluate their potential use in radiotherapy. Microspheres with suitable morphology, size, density, and holmium concentration were obtained.