Editorial
Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Dear Colleagues, brachytherapy achievements often go unnoticed, but it is worth noting that every week we can find interesting news. Advanced Medical Isotope Corporation (AMIC), a company engaged in the production and distribution of medical isotopes, announced the execution of an exclusive world-wide license for patented technology for a proprietary brachythe­rapy seed with a fast-dissolving matrix for optimized delivery of radionuclides to cancer tissue. The resorbable seed provides controlled delivery of insoluble yttrium-90 microspheres. The new seed is a joint invention by radiochemists and medical physicists at Battelle in Richland, Washington, and pharmaceutical chemists at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. AMIC is testing and conducting research to develop the new brachytherapy seed, and anticipates filing Premarket Notification with the FDA in October, 2010. According to AMIC CEO James C. Katzaroff, "Yttrium-90 is an important high-energy beta-emitting medical isotope with outstanding potential for treating highly localized cancer. Controlled delivery of yttrium-90 microspheres in fast-resorbable seeds should provide a unique opportunity to maximize the therapeutic index. This feature should provide high-dose therapy of non-recectable solid tumors with minimal side-effects to neighboring normal tissues".
AMIC anticipates the use of these seeds for prostate cancer as well as for many of the more radiation-resistant cancers such as brain tumors, head and neck tumors, and liver cancer. The resorbable seeds resemble conventional metal brachytherapy seeds and may be placed by direct injection using standard needles, grids, and imaging systems. However, AMIC expects that the technology should enable seed manufacturing at lower-cost relative to conventional welded-metal seeds. Unlike current seeds that remain in the body emitting low levels of penetrating photon radiation for extended periods of time, yttrium-90 decays with a shorter physical half-life (2.7 days), with negligible radiation outside the patient. The shorter half-life also suggests a potentially higher biological effective dose (BED) value for cancer cell destruction. The insoluble form of the yttrium-90 microspheres effectively confines the radioactivity to the injection site and limits potential dissolution into blood. "Yttrium-90 continues to demonstrate outstanding properties of a preferred medical isotope for cancer...


View full text...