The superselective transcatheter arterial embolization has currently become an accepted treatment of hepatic tumors. We have developed an experimental model for the evaluation of this therapy in the rat liver. Using the retrograde catheterization of the superior pancreaticoduodenal artery, only the peripheral intrahepatic arterial branches and sinusoids of the median and left lobes of the liver were embolized with 1.2 and 1.5 mg of Gelfoam powder. This method resembles the clinical practice because the superselective embolization could be performed adequately and allows the comparative evaluation of the responses of the embolized and non-embolized lobes.