Chandigarh, March 26 -- A three-year clinical trial of an indigenously developed radioactive therapy for liver cancer - costing just Rs.5,000, far lower than the internationally established Yttrium-90 (Y-90) Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) that costs Rs.10 lakh - will begin at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in April. Called "transarterial radionuclide therapy", it will be a boon for poor patients since Y-90 SIRT is out of their reach due to its high cost, experts said.

Successful completion of the trial will demonstrate that indigenous Rhenium-188 (Re-188) microspheres is comparable to internationally established Y-90 spheres for the treatment of liver cancer. This will promote national ...