Abdominal MRI Santa Fe: What Is Chemoembolization?
Abdominal MRI Santa Fe:
Abdominal MRI Santa Fe provides accurate, non-invasive imaging of the abdomen and pelvis. Find out how to get an abdominal MRI at our location in New Mexico today!
Intra-arterial chemotherapy:
Chemoembolization is the use of chemotherapy to reduce the size of a tumor by blocking its blood supply. This therapy is often used to shrink liver tumors, either before or after surgery. Abdominal MRI Santa Fe uses a contrast agent called gadolinium, which shows up on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. An interventional radiologist inserts a thin catheter through an artery in your groin area and threads it into the hepatic artery near the tumor. Chemotherapy, delivered with a small pump, flows through this tube and blocks the blood flow to the cancerous tissue. The next step depends on how much tissue was treated with chemoembolization: If only part of the tumor is blocked, then surgeons will typically remove that part during surgery. If most or all of the tumor has been blocked, surgeons will not perform any additional operation.
Diagnosis and staging:
Chemoembolization is used to treat cancer in the liver. The process involves injecting chemotherapy into an artery that supplies blood to the liver. This procedure can also be used in conjunction with surgery or radiation therapy. It is usually performed by a radiologist or interventional radiologist and may take up to two hours. It is recommended for those with HCC, recurrent cholangiocarcinoma, or hepatic metastases from other cancers such as pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer. Chemoembolization will not cure any of these conditions but it helps to control the growth of tumor cells and relieves symptoms such as jaundice (yellowing of the skin), abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.
If successful, it may shrink tumors or stop their growth completely. The success rate for chemoembolization ranges from 60-90%. Patients who are candidates for chemoembolization should have either stable liver function tests or no history of cirrhosis.
Treatment:
Chemoembolization is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that delivers chemotherapy through a catheter to the liver. The goal of chemoembolization is to kill as many cancer cells as possible and shrink tumors in the liver. This is done by placing the chemotherapy directly into or near the liver, where it can do its work most effectively. Compared to open surgery and other types of treatments, chemoembolization has many benefits. It’s less invasive, which means there’s usually less pain, bleeding, and scarring. Chemotherapy may also be more effective when delivered in this way.
The two main disadvantages are that not all people with liver cancer will benefit from chemoembolization (especially those who are only undergoing treatment for advanced disease), and you need to take anti-clotting drugs for about one month after treatment for chemoembolization.
Chemoembolization does not cure cancer, but if it’s combined with other therapies such as surgery or radiotherapy, your chances of being cured greatly increase.
Recovery:
Chemoembolization is a minimally invasive procedure that can be done in two ways: via the liver artery, or through the hepatic veins. The first type of chemoembolization is done by threading special needles called catheters into the artery, which are then inflated with a chemotherapy solution. This is used to kill any cancer cells that have been detected in the liver.
