Vascular Bracytherapy Procedure Developed by ORNL Nuclear Medicine Program in Use at University of Tennessee Medical Center

Cardiologists at the University of Tennessee's Heart, Lung, Vascular Institute are pioneering a new procedure for cardiac patients, to prevent the re-clogging of arteries after angioplasty. The procedure, called vascular brachytherapy, is available in East Tennessee only at UT Medical Center. Vascular brachytherapy uses beta radiation to keep the arteries from re-narrowing after they have been opened with angioplasty. Angioplasty uses a balloon to open the artery and then places a tiny tube device, called a stent, inside to help keep the artery open. For many, simple angioplasty works well, but for others scar tissue forms around the stent and the artery re-narrows – a condition physicians call restenosis. UT physicians began using the procedure in February and have been pleased with its success.

For the past five years UT Medical Center physicians have been working with researchers at UT Knoxville (UTK) and in conjunction with scientists in the nuclear medicine program at ORNL to help develop the procedure. The ORNL scientists were led by F. F. (Russ) Knapp, Jr., a Corporate Fellow in the Life Sciences Division. UT Cardiologist Robert Spencer MD, and members of the UT Medical Center's Vascular Research Laboratory monitored tissue samples treated with the radiation in order to provide their counterparts at UTK and ORNL information for the development of mathematical programs and computer models which monitor the safety and dosing methods of the radiation used in the procedure. (Contact: Russ Knapp, 574-6225 or knappffjr@ornl.gov; Funding Source: DOE-OBER, Medical Sciences Division) -- March 2001