Background/aims: Recently, fine powder cisplatin (IA-call; Nipponkayaku, Japan) was released, but there is no detailed study on an appropriate blending method of lipiodol-cisplatin for transcatheter arterial chemoembolization. We evaluated the sustained release and accumulation nature of lipiodol-cisplatin for hepatocellular carcinoma.
Methodology: We prepared three types of mixture: a suspension of lipiodol and cisplatin powder, an emulsion of cisplatin powder dissolved with contrast medium and lipiodol, and a suspension-emulsion that was a suspension of lipiodol and cisplatin powder emulsified with contrast medium. In a basic study, a cisplatin release test was performed. In a clinical evaluation, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization with 3 lipiodol-cisplatin mixtures that had sustained release was performed in 60 consecutive patients with hepatocellular carcinoma as a randomized controlled trial. The density ratio of the tumor and treated liver tissue was measured as the accumulation nature.
Results: The suspension-emulsion and emulsion with a 7:3 mixture of lipiodol and contrast medium, and the suspension had better sustained release. The accumulation nature of the suspension-emulsion and emulsion were higher than the suspension.
Conclusions: The pattern efficiently accumulated on hepatocellular carcinoma was the suspension-emulsion and emulsion. We suggest that a suspension-emulsion may be created more easily and is more suitable for clinical use.