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Beads that soak up a chemotherapy drug before they are injected into the liver's arteries, then block the tumour's blood supply and release the drug slowly inside it. In a randomised trial they did not beat the older oil-based method overall, though some groups of patients responded better.
In Europe Boston Scientific describes DC Bead as "a loadable microsphere product primarily intended as an embolic agent for the local treatment of malignant hypervascularised tumour(s) in the liver", loaded with doxorubicin for hepatocellular carcinoma (DEBDOX) or with irinotecan for colorectal liver metastases (DEBIRI). American clearances read here are for embolisation only: LC Bead LUMI (Biocompatibles, K162373, 16 December 2016), is intended "for the embolization of hypervascular tumors and arteriovenous malformations"; QuadraSphere (Biosphere Medical, K172372, 6 September 2017), "hypervascularized tumors including hepatoma"; Varian's ONCOZENE (K242794, 16 October 2024), "hypervascular tumors including hepatoma"; and Suzhou Hengrui Callisyn's CalliSpheres (K173871, 17 September 2018, code NAJ), "hypervascular tumors, including uterine fibroids".
PRECISION V randomised 212 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma to doxorubicin-loaded DC Bead or conventional oil-based chemoembolisation. Complete response (27 against 22 per cent), objective response (52 against 44 per cent) and disease control (63 against 52 per cent) were higher with beads, but "The hypothesis of superiority was not met" (one-sided P = 0.11); patients with Child-Pugh B, performance status 1, bilobar or recurrent disease had significantly better objective response. In the laboratory, DC Bead, LifePearl, HepaSphere and Tandem all loaded more than 99 per cent of doxorubicin within an hour but released it at different rates.
Ion-exchange hydrogel microspheres bind positively charged drugs such as doxorubicin or irinotecan; after embolisation they release the drug locally over days while occluding the tumour's arterial supply.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Drug-eluting beads for chemoembolisation" OR ABSTRACT:"Drug-eluting beads for chemoembolisation" OR TITLE:"DC Bead, LC Bead, HepaSphere, ONCOZENE, CalliSpheres, LifePearl" OR ABSTRACT:"DC Bead, LC Bead, HepaSphere, ONCOZENE, CalliSpheres, LifePearl" OR TITLE:"DEB-TACE" OR ABSTRACT:"DEB-TACE" OR TITLE:"Drug-eluting bead" OR ABSTRACT:"Drug-eluting bead") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Drug-eluting beads for chemoembolisation (DC Bead, LC Bead, HepaSphere, ONCOZENE, CalliSpheres, LifePearl), not a curated reading list.
Shares Liver-directed therapy (TACE, TARE, HAI, ablation), Colorectal cancer and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Boston Scientific, Colorectal cancer and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Boston Scientific and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Colorectal cancer and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Hepatocellular carcinoma and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Colorectal cancer and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Colorectal cancer and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
Shares Colorectal cancer and the tag devices-gaps-2026-11.
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