Randomized controlled trials are investigating the benefit of hepatic radioembolization added to systemic therapy in the first-and second-line treatment of patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Remarkably, administered activity may still be suboptimal, because a dose-response relationship has not been defined. The purpose of this study was to characterize the relationship between tumor-absorbed dose and response after 90 Y radioembolization treatment for CRLM. Methods: Thirty patients with unresectable chemorefractory CRLM were treated with resin 90 Y-microspheres in a prospective phase II clinical trial. Tumor-absorbed dose was quantified on 90 Y PET. Metabolic tumor activity, defined as tumor lesion glycolysis (TLG*) on 18 F-FDG PET, was measured at baseline and 1 mo after treatment. The relationship between tumor-absorbed dose and posttreatment metabolic activity was assessed per metastasis with a linear mixed-effects regression model. Results: Treated metastases (n 5 133) were identified. The mean tumorabsorbed dose was 51 ± 28 Gy (range, 7-174 Gy). A 50% reduction in TLG* was achieved in 46% of metastases and in 11 of 30 (37%) patients for the sum of metastases. The latter was associated with a prolonged median overall survival (11.6 vs. 6.6 mo, P 5 0.02). A strong and statistically significant dose-response relationship was found (P , 0.001). The dose effect depended on baseline TLG* (P , 0.01). The effective tumor-absorbed dose was conservatively estimated at a minimum of 40-60 Gy. Conclusion: A strong dose-response relationship exists for the treatment of CRLM with resin microsphere 90 Y radioembolization. Treatment efficacy is, however, still limited, because the currently used pretreatment activity calculation methods curb potentially achievable tumor-absorbed dose values. A more personalized approach to radioembolization is required before concluding on its clinical potential.