The transarterial chemoembolization treatment was performed on patients who had a life-threatening recurrence of the cancerous lesion after having standard treatment.
Hori developed the superabsorbent polymer microspheres (SAP-MS) and first used it in 1992 at Osaka University Hospital, Japan. Since then he has continued to research new medical interventions for targeted drug delivery to cancer lesions. Of the breast cancer cases presented at CIRSE, all women are tumor free after three years. The breast cancer metastases located in skin, lymph node, lumbar spine, chest wall and liver were treated with SAP-microspheres loaded with a chemotherapy drug. The TACE technique targeted the lesions and delivered the cancer-killing drug directly to the tumor.
The SAP-MS technology is used to manufacture HepaSphere Microspheres (Merit Medical Systems) which is CE marked in the European Union for the embolization treatment of liver cancer and metastatic liver tumors with or without doxorubicin delivery.
“Interventional oncology is the next horizon,” said Hori. “Physicians worldwide are making great strides to develop new minimally invasive procedures using embolic microspheres to treat cancerous tumours. Extending and providing a good quality of life for patients with metastatic cancer using transarterial embolic intervention is my mission.”
Merit Medical was the education sponsor of the Emerging Therapies symposium. Fred P Lampropoulos, Merit’s chairman and CEO, commented, “We have always worked with physicians and interventional radiologists to find the best ways to use our products and improve them to meet the needs of a diverse group of patients. Hori’s work exemplifies the best in physician commitment to improving the quality of care and extending the lives of so many people. We are proud to sponsor these unrestricted education forums for peer to peer medical case reporting.”
About HepaSphere microspheres
Interventional oncologists inject HepaSphere microspheres using a microcatheter to selectively enter the arteries that feed the lesion. HepaSphere microspheres are designed to carry and release the anticancer drugs directly to the lesion, minimising the toxic side effects that are often experienced with traditional chemotherapy. These microspheres are commercially available from Merit Medical as QuadraSphere microspheres within the USA and HepaSphere microspheres in the rest of the world.
