Creating an Embolism to Destroy Liver-Cancer

Killing cancerous tumors with chemotherapy is a tricky and dangerous process for the patients undergoing the procedure. A typical chemo treatment requires a few days stay in the hospital while powerful chemicals are circulated through the patient’s body. While the tumor cells are the targets for the potent chemicals, they inevitably make their way into the entire circulation, making the procedure a painful and inefficient way of treatment. A company by the name of BioSphere Medical, Inc is doing their part to change the way tumors are destroyed. BioSphere Medical has developed a plastic bead that can be used to quickly and more efficiently destroy tumors.

These beads, called QuardaSpheres, are made of sodium acrylate and a vinyl alcohol polymer, which soak up the chemicals used for chemotherapy and slowly release the drugs at the site of the tumor. In the new procedure the QuardaSpheres are injected in to the artery that supplies the tumor with blood. The beads then make their way down stream to the targeted site where they then occlude the capillaries of the tumor, cutting of its blood and releasing the chemicals into the cells. This method effectively dumps a hundred percent of the medication into the cancer cells, preventing the powerful drugs from making their way into the rest of the circulation.

Right now the QuadraSpheres are being tested in rabbits with liver tumors, and the results are looking good. I find this new method of treatment to be very exciting having seen what the harsh effects of chemotherapy can do to a person. I hope the research can prove what it promises to do, for what it seems the company if very confident in their product and hope to get approval for liver-cancer treatment in 2015.