Abstract: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Hepatic metastases, which account for the major cause of mortality in CRC patients, occur in about half of the patients when the primary tumor is discovered or after the treatment. Local treatment along with systematic therapy is the most common schedule for CRC patients with liver metastases (CRLM). As one of the well-accepted minimally invasive local therapies, yttrium-90 ( ⁹⁰ Y)-microspheres selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT) has shown its confirmed efficacy and safety and been applied in CRLM patients abroad for nearly 20 years. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines recommend ⁹⁰ Y microspheres SIRT as a local minimally invasive treatment option for CRLM patients. The Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer (2019) issued by Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO) also recommended  ⁹⁰ Y-microspheres SIRT at level Ⅲ. In this study, we reviewed the progress of  ⁹⁰ Y-microspheres SIRT in terms of palliative and translational treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), which indicated that ⁹⁰ Y-microspheres SIRT had the advantages in local control as well as the improvement of survival time and living quality, either alone or combined with other local or systemic therapies.

Key words: ⁹⁰ Y-microspheres, Selective internal radiation therapy, Colorectal cancer