Hepatic artery embolisation for neuroendocrine tumours (NETs)
What is hepatic artery embolisation?
Hepatic artery embolisation is used to treat tumours in the liver. Tumours need a blood supply to survive. This treatment works by reducing the blood flow to the liver.
Hepatic artery embolisation for NETs
A hepatic artery embolisation can sometimes shrink a neuroendocrine tumour (NET) in the liver. It can also help to relieve the symptoms of carcinoid syndrome. You may be offered this treatment for the following reasons:
- You have NETs in your liver, and surgery is not an option. This may be because of where the NETs are, or you do not want surgery, or you are not fit enough for an operation
- Other treatments for the NET have not helped.
- The NET is producing a lot of hormones that are causing symptoms.
Having hepatic artery embolisation
At the hospital before you have the treatment, you may be given a drip (infusion) of octreotide. This helps reduce or prevent carcinoid symptoms.
Treatment is usually done in the x-ray department (radiology) of the hospital by a specialist doctor known as an interventional radiologist.You may be given a sedative to make you feel sleepy. During the hepatic artery embolisation the doctor gently puts a thin tube into the main blood vessel in your groin (the femoral artery). You will have a local anaesthetic to numb the skin in that area.
Guided by a scan, they slowly feed the tube into the main blood vessel of the liver (the hepatic artery). They then inject a drug that blocks the blood supply.
Sometimes the drug is combined with chemotherapy. This is called chemoembolisation. The highly concentrated chemotherapy stays in the tumour to kill some of the cells and shrink the tumour.
Chemoembolisation is sometimes called TACE (trans-arterial chemoembolisation) or CT-ACE (computerised tomography guided arterial chemoembolisation).
After treatment
About our information
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References
Below is a sample of the sources used in our neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) information. If you would like more information about the sources we use, please contact us at cancerinformationteam@macmillan.org.uk
Esmo clinical practice guidelines: endocrine and neuroendocrine cancers. Available from: www.esmo.org/guidelines/endocrine-and-neuroendocrine-cancers (accessed May 2021). -
Reviewers
This information has been written, revised and edited by Macmillan Cancer Support’s Cancer Information Development team. It has been reviewed by expert medical and health professionals and people living with cancer. It has been approved by Senior Medical Editor, Dr Paul Ross, Consultant Medical Oncologist.
Our cancer information has been awarded the PIF TICK. Created by the Patient Information Forum, this quality mark shows we meet PIF’s 10 criteria for trustworthy health information
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Reviewers
This information has been written, revised and edited by Macmillan Cancer Support’s Cancer Information Development team. It has been reviewed by expert medical and health professionals and people living with cancer. It has been approved by Chief Medical Editor, Professor Tim Iveson, Consultant Medical Oncologist.
Our cancer information has been awarded the PIF TICK. Created by the Patient Information Forum, this quality mark shows we meet PIF’s 10 criteria for trustworthy health information.
Our cancer information meets the PIF TICK quality mark.
This means it is easy to use, up-to-date and based on the latest evidence. Learn more about how we produce our information.