Transcatheter arterial embolization for metastatic liver tumors: a study in resected cases.

We evaluated histologically the effect of transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) in five metastatic liver tumors from gastrointestinal cancer, which were resected at surgery or removed at autopsy after TAE. TAE was carried out with cubes of gelatin sponge; in 2 cases, iodized oil was used as peripheral embolic material. Histological examination revealed three tumors to be completely necrotized. Approximately 80% of the remaining two tumors were necrotic. Our data suggest that TAE holds promise in the treatment of metastatic liver tumor from gastrointestinal cancer.