Various tumors in the brain, head, neck, and spine can be treated pre-operatively with embolization. This can help to reduce the risk of bleeding during open surgery.
The list of tumors amenable to this therapy is very broad and includes meningiomas, glomus tumors, paragangliomas, nasopharyngeal angiofibromas, as well as metastatic cancerous tumors from the lung, breast, kidney, skin, and bowel.
The procedure involves diagnostic angiography followed by microcatheter selection of the small arteries that supply blood flow to the tumor. Then, small particles are injected in order to reduce blood flow and induce ischemia and cell death within the tumor tissue.
