Abstract
Preoperative embolization has been an option for adjunctive treatment of hyper-vascular head, neck, and spine tumors for decades. The advent of modern endovascular technology has allowed the interventionalist to catheterize vessels which were previously thought to be impossible. Furthermore, with the development of newer embolic agents and better imaging, these procedures have become more widespread and easier to learn. Several embolic agents including particulate embolic agents (Embospheres and Polyvinyl alcohol particles) and liquid embolic agents (glue, Onyx, squid and Phil) as well as platinum coils for vessel sacrifice are now available and can be employed for securing adjunctive hemostasis, softening tumors, and palliative treatment for non-resectable tumors. In this chapter, we discussed various embolization techniques, embolic agents, and commonly encountered complications. We also touched upon, intra-arterial delivery of chemotherapeutics in head and neck cancers. This chapter also gives a broad overview of the common tumors that are amenable to micro-catheterization and embolization, as well as case examples, that will aid any level interventionalist in decision-making and appropriate patient selection. Finally, we also describe spine tumor embolization techniques as well as the data supporting this adjunctive treatment prior to surgical resection.
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Siddiqui, F.M., Rajah, G., Gemmete, J.J., Chaudhary, N., Elias, A., Pandey, A.S. (2022). Embolization of Head, Neck, and Spinal Tumors. In: Mascitelli, J.R., Binning, M.J. (eds) Introduction to Vascular Neurosurgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88196-2_27
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