Chemoebolization

Chemoembolization is a way of delivering cancer treatment directly to a tumor. The liver is the most common part of the body for chemoembolization to be used, although it can be done in other areas. Under x-ray guidance, a small catheter is inserted into an artery in the groin. The catheter's tip is threaded into the artery in the liver that supplies blood flow to the tumor. Chemotherapy is injected through the catheter into the tumor and mixed with particles that embolize or block the flow of blood to the diseased tissue.

Chemoembolization works to attack the cancer in two ways. First, it delivers a very high concentration of chemotherapy directly into the tumor, without exposing the entire body to the effects of those drugs. Second, the procedure cuts off blood supply to the tumor, depriving it of oxygen and nutrients, and trapping the drugs at the tumor site to enable them to be more effective.

What are some common uses of the procedure?

Chemoembolization is most beneficial to patients whose disease is limited to the liver, whether the tumor began in the liver or spread to it (metastasized) from another organ. Some success has been demonstrated with patients whose cancer has spread to other areas. Cancers that may be treated by chemoembolization include:

• Hepatoma (primary liver cancer)
• Metastasis (spread) to the liver from:
• colon cancer
• carcinoid
• islet cell tumors of the pancreas
• ocular melanoma
• sarcomas
• a primary tumor in another part of the body

Depending on the number and type of tumors, chemoembolization may be used as the sole treatment or may be combined with other treatment options such as surgery or radiation.