StemCell Therapy

A research team at Severance Hospital said Thursday that the hospital has begun to treat ocular cancer patients by introducing the Ru-106 eye plaque brachytherapy, which can preserve patients eyesight.

Ru-106 eye plaque brachytherapy removes tumors with irradiation by attaching a plate with ruthenium isotope that emits radiation to the patients' eyeball. The metal plate is removed within seven days after surgery, the hospital said.

The existing surgical methods had to remove the eyeball and replace it with a prosthetic eye. However, the Ru-106 eye plaque brachytherapy preserves the eye and keeps a certain level of vision. According to the research team led by Professors Kim Min and Cho Yeon-a, patients can return to their daily lives relatively quickly as the treatment only takes about a week.

Brachytherapy, a type of internal radiation therapy, is most effective in treating uveal melanoma. Uvea is a layer sandwiched between sclera and retina. It got the name uvea from its black grape-like appearance. Uveal melanoma, a malignant tumor in the uvea, had to be treated by removing the eyeball or external beam radiation.

"Patients with retinoblastoma, which is commonly developed in children, can also be treated with the Ru-106 to preserve eyesight with limited effect," said Professor Kim Min of the Department of Ophthalmology at Severance Hospital. Professor Kim completed his training for one year at Wills Eye Hospital, one of the world's leading eye cancer institutions, and treated about 10,000 patients with eye tumors.

Professor Cho of the Department of Radiology Oncology recently published a paper on the effectiveness of brachytherapy for eye tumors and the possibility of conserving the eye.

Read more here:
Severance uses radiotherapy to treat ocular cancer while saving eyesight - Korea Biomedical Review

This entry was posted on September 15, 2020 at 10:50 am and is filed under Eye Sight & Vision. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |