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Arterial Embolization

Arterial embolization is the selective blocking of arteries by purposely introducing emboli, or foreign bodies that block blood flow. It can be used to treat certain types of cancer by cutting off blood flow to tumor cells. While arterial embolization used to be performed with more invasive procedures, these days it is generally an outpatient minimally-invasive surgical procedure involving only a small slit in the skin.

In arterial embolization, a cut on a feeder vein to the target artery is threaded with a long wire and a fiberoptic camera. Guided by the camera and MRI or other tracking technology, the doctor threads the wire into the vein to the point in the artery that the artery needs to be closed off. At this point, the wire is coiled into a tangle; it occludes the artery enough that natural clotting can finish the job.

Arterial embolization is used to treat aneurisms, epistaxis, AVMs and uterine fibroids. When a tumor is being fed by an artery, arterial embolization can be used to cut off the tumor's nutrient supply.

Alternatives to arterial embolization are much more invasive and less effective, and include surgically cutting off blood flow. Emboli are not limited to wires, but may also be small coils, screens, PVC pellets, and metal sponges; wire tangles, however, are the emboli of choice today.

Web Resources On Arterial Embolization

Uterine Fibroid Embolization
Uterine Artery Embolization

Book Resources On Arterial Embolization

Uterine Artery Embolization And Gynecologic Embolotherapy by James B. Spies et al
Uterine Artery Embolization : A Systematic Review of the Literature and Proposal for Research by Michael S. Broder

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