Cold kit for Rhenium-188 microspheres based selective intra-arterial therapy (SIRT): Preparation, characterization and feasibility study

Selective-intra-arterial radionuclide therapy (SIRT) using radiolabeled microspheres are being widely employed for the delivery of therapeutic radioisotope to liver cancers by exploiting the dual blood supply to liver. It delivers the therapeutic radiations to tumor and spares the healthy liver. Several radiolabeled microspheres formulations, labelled with 90Y, are commercially available. However, high-cost leads to unaffordability for several patients. 188Re-based therapy seems affordable due to commercial availability of 188W/188Re generator that have long shelf-life of more than 6 months. To provide affordable solution, the microsphere cold kit with quick and facile methodology for 188Re radiolabeling has been developed. The microsphere cold kit has been characterized for their physicochemical properties. The Quality Control (QC) tests were also performed for clinical application. The feasibility studies were performed to study distribution and retention of 188Re microspheres in tumor. The results demonstrated that the developed cold kit enables facile and quick radiolabeling with 188Re. 188Re microspheres showed good retention in tumor and found suitable for SIRT.