Quantitative CT imaging and radiation-absorbed dose estimations of Ho microspheres: paving the way for clinical application.

Background: Microbrachytherapy enables high local tumor doses sparing surrounding tissues by intratumoral injection of radioactive holmium-166 microspheres (Ho-MS). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cannot properly detect high local Ho-MS concentrations and single-photon emission computed tomography has insufficient resolution. Computed tomography (CT) is quicker and cheaper with high resolution and previously enabled Ho quantification.

Characterization of holmium(iii)-acetylacetonate complexes derived from therapeutic microspheres by infrared ion spectroscopy.

Microspheres containing radioactive holmium-acetylacetonate are employed in emerging radionuclide therapies for the treatment of malignancies. At the molecular level, details on the coordination geometries of the Ho complexes are however elusive. Infrared ion spectroscopy (IRIS) was used to characterize several Ho-acetylacetonate complexes derived from non-radioactive microspheres.

Imaging-assisted hydrogel formation for single cell isolation.

We report a flexible single-cell isolation method by imaging-assisted hydrogel formation. Our approach consists of imaging-aided selective capture of cells of interest by encasing them into a polymeric hydrogel, followed by removal of unwanted cells and subsequent release of isolated cells by enzymatic hydrogel degradation, thus offering an opportunity for further analysis or cultivation of selected cells. We achieved high sorting efficiency and observed excellent viability rates (>98%) for NIH/3T3 fibroblasts and A549 carcinoma cells isolated using this procedure.

Preparation and characterization of inorganic radioactive holmium-166 microspheres for internal radionuclide therapy.

Microspheres with high specific activities of radionuclides are very interesting for internal radiotherapy treatments. This work focuses on the formulation and characterization of inorganic microspheres with a high content of holmium and therefore a high specific radioactivity of holmium-166. Two novel formulations of inorganic microspheres were obtained by dispersing solid holmium acetylacetonate microspheres (Ho(AcAc)-ms) in NaHPO or NaOH solutions followed by 2 h incubation at room temperature.

Radioactive holmium phosphate microspheres for cancer treatment.

The aim of this study was the development of radioactive holmium phosphate microspheres (HoPO-MS) with a high holmium content and that are stable in human serum for selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) of liver cancer. To this end, holmium acetylacetonate microspheres (HoAcAc-MS) were prepared (34.2 ± 1.