Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer Treatments – Chemoembolization
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Chemoembolization for Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer
Chemoembolization is an innovative method used by the experts at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) to treat certain types of extrahepatic bile duct cancer. Chemoembolization involves injecting chemotherapy directly into the blood vessels that feed the extrahepatic bile duct tumor. It may be used for tumors that began in the extrahepatic bile duct (extrahepatic bile duct cancer) or that spread to it from another organ (metastasized to the extrahepatic bile duct).
Chemoembolization works by using x-ray guidance to insert a small catheter (thin tube) through a needle into your femoral artery. The radiologist will then continue to thread the catheter up through your aorta (the largest artery, located in your heart) and into the main artery that feeds the tumor (the hepatic artery).
Mixed with a microsphere, chemotherapy drugs are injected directly through the catheter into the artery and into the tumor in order to emobolize (or block) the flow of blood to the diseased tissue. Once the microsphere blocks the artery and blood flow stops, the catheter is removed.
The chemoembolization procedure may allow a high concentration of chemotherapy to be targeted directly to cancerous tumors for a longer period of time, without exposing the entire body to the effect of those drugs. It also enables what is usually a temporary cut off of the arterial blood supply to the tumor, by which the tumor is prevented from getting the oxygen and nutrients it needs to grow.
Since chemoembolization involves the possible destruction of normal extrahepatic bile duct tissue, it may cause side effects, such as pain, fever, loss of appetite, and fatigue. Your general health, along with your overall extrahepatic bile duct function, helps determine the overall risk of serious complication as a result of chemoembolization.
Based on the stage, size and location of the tumor, your care team at CTCA will work together with you to determine if chemoembolization is the right extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment for you.
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