Tace and Tare

While surgery to remove a liver tumor offers the best chance for a cure, surgery is not an option for more than two-third of patients with liver cancer. And many a times, patients may have many small tumors in the liver, thus making surgery too risky or impractical. Also, liver surgery is complex procedure.

If your physician has told you that you have liver cancer, but are not a candidate for standard treatment, then chemoembolization (TACE) or Radio-embolization (TARE) may be a good option for you and improve your quality of life.

Decision to undergo such treatment shall be taken by Tumor board or by team which involves medical oncologist, oncosurgeon and radiation oncologist.

• When the material used to block the blood supply also delivers chemotherapy drugs to the tumor, it is called chemoembolization.
• The tumor is deprived of oxygen and nutrients when the blood supply is blocked.
• A high concentration of chemotherapy is administered directly to the tumor compared to the concentrations given through your vein (IV). (Please refer to video for more understanding).
• Chemotherapy remains in the tumor for a much longer time (as long as 1 month) with your artery blocked.  Blood will not be able to circulate through the tumor.
• Side effects may be milder compared with the chemotherapy given through your vein because the medications are trapped in the liver and not circulating throughout your body.
• DEB-TACE is a new way of delivering chemotherapy during TACE. It uses special beads that already have the chemotherapy drug in them (called drug-eluting beads, or DEBs). After these beads are injected into the arteries in the liver, they slowly release the drug to treat the tumor. 

• Because TACE is a local treatment given to the liver, there are fewer side effects from the chemotherapy drugs than if they are given as regular chemotherapy.
• Side effects will depend mainly on the number of tumors being treated, the amount of scarring in the liver (called cirrhosis) and your overall health.
• Following the procedure, it’s possible that you may experience fever, pain and/or nausea.
• These symptoms may last a few hours to up to a week, and are easily treated by medications and generally well tolerated by patient.

• You may have CT scan of abdomen 3 months after TACE. Dr Prashant Pote and his team use this imaging test to see how much the tumors have shrunk and to look for any new tumors in the liver.
• DR PRASHANT POTE, SPECIALIST IN LIVER TUMOR EMBOLIZATION (TACE & TARE) AND HIS CLINICAL TEAM AT OUR VASCULAR CENTER COMBINE MEDICAL EXPERTISE AND COMPASSION TO GUIDE YOU THROUGH YOUR CANCER TREATMENT JOURNEY, PROVIDING BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE TO LIVER CANCER PATIENT.

• This is a minimally invasive procedure to treat liver tumor, with combination of embolization and targeted radiation therapy.
• This therapy is highly beneficial in extending better quality of life for patients with inoperable tumors. Radioactive isotope of Yttrium (Y- 90) is delivered in blood vessel of the tumor that blocks the blood supply to the cancer cells and delivering high doses of ionizing radiation to the tumor directly while keeping the healthy cells safe.
• Unlike traditional radiation therapy which delivers high energy beam from outside directed towards tumor, this novel therapy delivers radioactive material exactly at the tumor thus killing tumor from inside.
• Being a palliative treatment it does not completely reverse the condition but helps in restricting further growth and shrinkage of tumor from inside.