Lung chemoembolization Interventional Radiology • City of Hope Cancer Center

Overview

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 non-small cell lung cancer. We are currently the only site in the US offering this localized chemotherapy treatment.

Main inclusion criteria

• Non-small cell lung cancer (any stage), 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

• Phase I trial results
• More trial information on ClinicalTrials.gov. Trial sponsor: City of Hope. Trial funding: Guerbet.
• Lung chemoembolization trial protocol
• Principal investigator: Ed Boas, MD PhD

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