Lung chemoembolization
Interventional Radiology • City of Hope Cancer Center
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Overview
Lung chemoembolization is a new treatment option for lung cancer or lung metastases that are not responding to systemic therapy and cannot be cured with surgery or radiation. Rather than injecting chemotherapy into a vein, the chemotherapy is delivered directly into the tumors, which potentially reduces side effects and improves efficacy.
During the chemoembolization procedure, a small catheter is placed into the artery that supplies blood to the lung tumors. Chemotherapy is injected into the tumor-feeding artery, followed by small plastic beads to block off the blood supply to the tumors. Often, only a single outpatient treatment procedure is needed. Large tumors, or tumors in both lungs, can require 2-4 treatment procedures.
Lung chemoembolization is commonly performed in Europe and Asia, where studies have shown response rates of 48 - 78%, with no major complications reported. However, lung chemoembolization is considered experimental in the United States. Our group has the most experience with lung chemoembolization in the US, and we have now started a phase II research study to examine the safety and efficacy of lung chemoembolization for treating lung cancer or lung metastases. We are currently the only site in the US offering this localized chemotherapy treatment.
Main inclusion criteria
- Lung cancer or lung metastases (from colon cancer, breast cancer, sarcoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, or other primaries), with lung, endobronchial, pleural, or mediastinal tumors that are progressing on systemic therapy (or the patient cannot tolerate systemic therapy), and that are not amenable to resection, thermal ablation, or ablative radiation therapy.
- Lung-dominant disease (majority of active tumor volume is in the chest).
Main exclusion criteria
- ECOG performance status >2.
- Oxygen saturation < 92% on room air.
- FEV1 < 60%.
- No measurable treatable disease (for example, unable to measure tumor size on CT, or lung nodules are all < 1 cm).
More information
Contact us
Ed Boas, MD PhD
626-218-8708
fboas@coh.org
Keywords: lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC, lung metstases, metastatic colon cancer, metastatic breast cancer, metastatic sarcoma, metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, metastatic renal cell carcinoma, clinical trial, bronchial artery chemoembolization, stage 2 lung cancer, stage 3 lung cancer, stage 4 lung cancer, metastatic lung cancer, minimally invasive, City of Hope, Los Angeles, California
City of Hope Cancer Center
1500 East Duarte Rd.
Duarte, CA 91010
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fboas@coh.org
626-218-8386
www.cityofhope.org
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