DENVER -- Liver cancer is often a deadly and devastating disease but new radioactive glass beads are giving some patients new hope.

"The tumors are way too large to have surgery right now," said liver cancer patient Angelene Bunde.

That's why, instead of having surgery to remove the cancerous tumors from her liver, Bunde will try a new treatment performed in very few states. The procedure is known as therasphere.

"This is a procedure where we put small radioactive beads into the liver arteries," said Dr. Charles Nutting.

Bunde made the long trip from Anchorage, Alaska to Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver for this procedure. It's another step in her journey that started seven months ago.

"Initially, it started as a backache," said Bunde.

Shortly thereafter her doctor felt a lump.

"Then they found five lumps," said Bunde. "I was on broad based chemo for three months. Then I went in for a Cat-scan and the tumors had grown -- they had not shrunk."

That's when she heard about Nutting and the treatment he was doing in Denver.

"The plan is to treat the entire liver, " Nutting said.

The procedure starts with a small cut in the groin. Then Nutting inserts small tubes and dye that highlights the liver arteries.

"We then slowly insert these radioactive particles that become lodged within the tumor," Nutting said. "Then they exert their local radiation effect and kill the tumor from the inside."

An hour later the procedure is done. As with any treatment there are risks and side effects, including pain and fatigue, but Bunde is ready.

"Bring on the pain, bring on the fatigue. If that means they are shrinking that's great," Bunde said.

The one thing the surgery is not is a cure.

"This is minimally invasive outpatient treatment that can help extend survival as well as improve quality of life," Nutting said. "The nice thing about this technology is that it allows the patient to be treated in a minimally invasive fashion. The patient can actually go home the same day. Most patients are discharged within two hours."

"We are buying time. We're hoping they'll shrink so that my liver can function a little more normally," Bunde said. "There are no guarantees with any procedures but it's another option and it's hope."

Bunde is only the third person in Denver to have this procedure done and she is recovering well.

For more information on this liver cancer treatment check out Thereasphere.com or call Porter Adventist Hospital HealthAdvisor at (303) 777-6877.