Review

DEB-TACE: a standard review

Fabio Melchiorre

Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology Service, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Vercelli, Italy

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Francesca Patella

*Author for correspondence:

E-mail Address: battellina@gmail.com

Postgraduate School of Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

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Lorenzo Pescatori

Postgraduate School of Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

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Filippo Pesapane

Postgraduate School of Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

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Enrico Fumarola

Postgraduate School of Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

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Pierpaolo Biondetti

Postgraduate School of Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

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Pietro Brambillasca

Postgraduate School of Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

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Cristian Monaco

Postgraduate School of Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

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Anna Maria Ierardi

Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology Service, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy

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Giuseppe Franceschelli

Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology Service, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy

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Gianpaolo Carrafiello

Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology Service, San Paolo Hospital, Milan, Italy

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Published Online:10 Jul 2018https://doi.org/10.2217/fon-2018-0136

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Abstract

Drug-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) is a relative new endovascular treatment based on the use of microspheres to release chemotherapeutic agents within a target lesion with controlled pharmacokinetics. This aspect justifies the immediate success of DEB-TACE, that nowadays represents one of the most used treatments for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. However, there is no consensus about the choice of the best embolotherapy technique. In this review, we describe the available microspheres and report the results of the main comparative studies, to clarify the role of DEB-TACE in the hepatocellular carcinoma management. We underline that there is no evidence about the superiority of DEB-TACE over conventional TACE in terms of efficacy, but there may be some benefits with respect to safety especially with the improvement of new technologies.

Keywords:

Papers of special note have been highlighted as: • of interest; •• of considerable interest

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Vol. 14, No. 28

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History

Received 18 February 2018

Accepted 26 March 2018

Published online 10 July 2018

Published in print December 2018

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Keywords

Authors' contributions

F Melchiorre, F Patella contributed to the conception and design. G Carrafiello provided administrative support. All authors contributed to the provision of study materials or patients. All authors contributed to the collection and assembly of data, data analysis and interpretation. All authors contributed in writing the manuscript and approving the final manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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