Your questions answered
Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT)
Your questions answered
We realise that you will have lots of questions ahead of your treatment. Below are a selection of the questions we are frequently asked by patients starting Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT). If you have any further questions, please ask a member of the team who will be happy to help you.
Will the treatment hurt?
You may feel uncomfortable due to the length of time you have to lie down during the treatment and imaging procedures. The nurse can give you some pain-killers or sedatives to help with this. Occasionally patients develop a bruise around the site where the needle was inserted.
What are the alternatives?
There are several alternative techniques that can be used to treat liver tumours. These include surgery, chemotherapy, chemo-embolisation and local ablation (such as radio-frequency ablation). The decision about which of these treatments is most appropriate for you has been taken by a team of specialist doctors. They have taken your personal circumstances into account. Your doctors will be happy to explain how SIRT fits into the overall treatment strategy for you.
Further sources of information and support
There are a number of organisations that offer support and information for people with cancer. We have listed some that you may find helpful belows:
SIR-Spheres® website:
Information on the procedure, including a video explaining how the treatment works. Click here to access the website.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guideline TA688:
Information and figures about how effective the treatment is and how likely the side effects are. Click here to access the website.
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guideline IP672:
Information and figures about how effective the treatment is and how likely the side effects are. Click here to access to access the website.