Short-term effectiveness and safety of CT-guided radioactive iodine-125 seed implantation for treatment of adrenal metastases

Purpose
To evaluate short-term effectiveness and safety of computed tomography (CT)-guided radioactive iodine-125 (125I) seed implantation (CTRISI) for treating adrenal metastases.

Material and methods
A total of 50 consecutive patients with adrenal metastases were enrolled retrospectively. Among them, 18 patients received CTRISI, and 18 received 3D-conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) treatment. The remaining 14 patients without any treatments served as a control group. Follow-up CT was performed at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after treatment. Tumor responses and complications were evaluated.

Results
At 6 weeks, control rate in control group (complete response [CR] + partial response [PR]) was 0, and in the CTRISI group (CR + PR, 84.41%), it was significantly higher than that in the 3D-CRT group (CR + PR, 44.44%). Local control rates with CTRISI at 3 and 6 months were 68.42% and 57.89%, respectively. No severe complications were observed after CTRISI.

Conclusions
CTRISI is an effective and safe method for short-term treatment of adrenal metastases. Our findings suggest that CTRISI can safely and effectively be used for adrenal metastases patients as short-term treatment. Further survival studies with longer follow-up are warranted to validate our results.