What Chemoembolization of Tumors Is
Chemoembolization is a non-surgical procedure used to treat inoperable liver cancer. This innovative procedure delivers chemotherapy directly to the tumor. Studies have shown that at least 70% of patients experience improvement after this procedure and the benefits generally last for 10-14 months.
With chemoembolization, a catheter is inserted through a tiny puncture in the groin and threaded through the arteries until it reaches the hepatic artery. The hepatic artery is one of two blood vessels that feed the liver and the one that usually supplies blood to the tumors. Once the catheter is properly placed in the hepatic artery, a chemotherapy drug and millions of tiny particles are released into the blood stream. The particles lodge into the smaller blood vessels that feed the tumor. They keep the chemotherapy drugs in the liver longer, giving them more time to kill adjacent cancer cells. The particles also prevent oxygen and nutrients from reaching the tumor, further contributing to the tumor’s shrinkage. Healthy liver tissue continues to get blood from the portal vein, so very little of it is damaged by the chemoembolization.
Since the entire body is not exposed to the chemotherapy drug as it is with conventional chemotherapy, there is a lesser chance of side effects. Additionally, this targeted approach allows a much more potent chemotherapy drug to be used. New innovations in particles, now called drug eluting beads, allow the chemotherapy to delivered directly into the tumor at high concentration with a slow release over 10 days to -2 weeks from one administration. The drug concentration is even higher and the systemic side effects are less.
The liver processes and removes the chemotherapy drug over approximately a four week period. The particles will remain in the liver without causing any complications.
Depending on the type of cancer and number of tumors, chemoembolization may be used alone or in conjunction with another treatment, such as surgery or radiation. If there is a tumor in both lobes of the liver, you will need to have two treatments to treat each side separately, with at least one month between the treatments.
This minimally-invasive treatment has few side effects. It can be used to treat both primary and secondary liver cancer. While it won’t cure the cancer, it can shrink tumors, improve the quality of life, and possibly extend life for people with inoperable liver cancer.
RIA radiologists perform this innovative cancer treatment at several Denver area hospitals.