Tumor Embolization
Embolization is a minimally invasive surgical technique. The purpose is to prevent blood flow to an area of the body, which can effectively shrink a tumor or block an aneurysm. The procedure is carried out as an endovascular procedure by an interventional radiologist in an interventional suite.
Embolization is an option for some patients with tumors that cannot be removed by surgery. It can be used for people with tumors that are too large to be treated with ablation (usually larger than 5 cm across).
People getting this type of treatment typically do not stay in the hospital overnight.
- Trans-arterial embolization (TAE) :During trans-arterial embolization a catheter (a thin, flexible tube) is put into an artery in the inner thigh through a small cut and eased up into the hepatic artery in the liver. A dye is usually injected into the bloodstream to help the doctor watch the path of the catheter. Once the catheter is in place, small particles are injected into the artery to plug it up, blocking oxygen and key nutrients from the tumor.
- Trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE): Trans-arterial chemoembolization is usually the first type of embolization used for large liver cancers that cannot be treated with surgery or ablation. It combines embolization with chemotherapy (chemo). Most often, this is done by giving chemotherapy through the catheter directly into the artery, then plugging up the artery, so the chemo can stay close to the tumor.
- Drug-eluting bead chemoembolization (DEB-TACE): Drug-eluting bead chemoembolization combines TACE embolization with drug-eluting beads (tiny beads that contain a chemotherapy drug). The procedure is essentially the same as TACE except that the artery is blocked after drug-eluting beads are injected. Because the chemo is physically close to the cancer and because the drug-eluting beads slowly release the chemo, the cancer cells are more likely to be damaged and die. The most common chemo drugs used for TACE or DEB-TACE are mitomycin C, cisplatin, and doxorubicin.
- Radioembolization (RE) :Radioembolization combines embolization with radiation therapy. This is done by injecting small beads (called microspheres) that have a radioactive isotope (yttrium-90) attached to them into the hepatic artery. Once infused, the beads lodge in the blood vessels near the tumor, where they give off small amounts of radiation to the tumor site for several days. The radiation travels a very short distance, so its effects are limited mainly to the tumor.
