Chemosaturation, one of the most up-to-date methods in cancer treatment, has aroused curiosity in our country as well as all over the world in recent years. Stating that chemosaturation treatment is a new generation treatment method in which chemotherapy drug is given directly into the liver in cancer patients with liver metastases, Uzm. Dr. Metin Çevener said, “With this method, chemotherapy drug is prevented from going to other organs and side effects are prevented.”
With the chemosaturation method, which is one of the pinpoint cancer treatments, only the splash foci in the liver are targeted. Specialist from the Department of Interventional Radiology at Medicana International Istanbul Hospital. Prof. Dr. Metin Çevener said, “Chemosaturation is one of the most popular cancer treatments in our country as well as all over the world in recent years. The main purpose of this treatment method is to trap high doses of chemotherapy drugs in the liver, allowing the drug to penetrate tumor cells at a higher rate. With this method, the drug given is prevented from going to organs other than the liver, thus preventing chemotherapy-related side effects in other parts of the body.”
It can be applied in patients with widespread metastasis
Emphasizing that chemosaturation treatment is a treatment method frequently used in cancer patients with multiple metastases in the liver, Uzm. Dr. Çevener said, “Chemosaturation is used especially in widespread metastases that have spread to both lobes of the liver. In order for this method to be applied, it is required that liver failure has not yet started and the patient does not have jaundice.”
Interventional Radiology Specialist Dr. Çevener explained the stages of the treatment as follows:
“Chemosaturation treatment is a method applied in the angiography room. It is applied in three stages by entering the artery in the groin and reaching the liver. In the isolation stage, which is the 1st stage, the exit vessels of the liver are kept closed throughout the procedure thanks to the special vascular closure balloons used, preventing the chemotherapy drug given from escaping outside the liver. In other words, at this stage, the liver and cardiac circulation are partially separated from each other. The 2nd stage is the 'infusion' stage. In this stage, chemotherapy drug is administered through the hepatic artery in such a way that it spreads only to the liver tissue. Since isolation is done in the first stage, the chemotherapy drug is trapped in the liver. In the infusion stage, it is ensured that the drug given is completely delivered to the liver. In the last stage, 'filtration', all the chemotherapy drug given to the liver is filtered out of the body by a filtration pump. This prevents the chemotherapy drug from staying in the body and causing side effects. These 3 stages applied in the same session take an average of 1.5 hours.”
Can be repeated every 6 weeks
Stating that chemosaturation is a repeatable method, Specialist. Dr. Metin Çevener said, “Several sessions can be applied at 6 week intervals. Chemosaturation is performed under anesthesia. After the procedure, the patient is followed for one day and discharged. If necessary, a second session can be performed after an average of 6 weeks. Since the drug given does not go to organs other than the liver, no side effects are expected in other organs. Chemosaturation treatment does not interfere with other oncologic treatments. The patient can return to the planned possible surgery, radiation or chemotherapy treatments in a short time.”
Promising results in patients who do not respond to treatment
Emphasizing that chemosaturation treatment is a treatment method developed to be used in liver metastases of uveal melanoma cancers, a special eye cancer, Interventional Radiology Specialist Uzmanm. Dr. Metin Çevener said, “This treatment, which received FDA approval in 2023, has also been applied in other cancer types other than melanoma metastases and successful results have been obtained. It is applied in cancers such as triple negative breast cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, liver cancer (hepatobiliary cancers), colorectal cancers, but in cases where there is no response to front-line treatments, and promising results are obtained in patients.”
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