Renal tumor embolization

Today the relevance of renal tumor embolization is not determined only by t he technical and clinical success of the method. Progress in diagnosis of e arly stages of renal carcinomas as well as the improvement of both surgical techniques and anesthetic procedures have lead to a change in the selectio n of patients for embolization. Preoperative embolization of advanced renal cell carcinomas with tumor thrombus into the vena cava or of T4 tumors is now an established clinical procedure. The complete occlusion of the vascul ar bed of the tumors leads to a considerable reduction in intraoperative bl ood loss and to simplification of the surgical preparation. By using Ethibl oc for embolization, palliation of a hemorrhage or of tumor-related pain in inoperable patients is usually successful. Although local control of the t umor disease, including complete tumor ablation, is achieved by embolizatio n,the median survival rate of our palliatively embolized patients is only 3 .5 months. This short life expectancy in the group of inoperable patients h as to be acknowledged individually in patients considered for palliative em bolization who are free of symptoms related to the tumor.