Surefire Medical embolization device effective in LT patients with HCC

Surefire Medical released results of a retrospective study of bridge-to-transplant patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with transarterial chemoembolization, or DEB-TACE, that showed a higher complete response rate using the Surefire Infusion System compared with standard endhole microcatheter, according to a press release.

“This study of bridge-to-transplant patients with HCC provides further evidence to suggest that Surefire may be a more effective tool to downstage patients for transplant when compared with a standard endhole microcatheter,” Lance Stein, MD, from the Piedmont Transplant Institute, said in the release. “As evidenced in this and previous clinical studies, the use [of] Surefire technology in embolization procedures optimizes penetration of therapy in tumor, which potentially increases complete response rates and spares healthy tissue.”

The study comprised 85 patients with HCC who were eligible for liver transplant and had undergone DEB-TACE therapy between 2015 and 2016 with HCC tumors less than 6.5 cm in size. Twenty-three patients received a transplant with five patients treated using a Surefire device. Eighteen patients received a standard microcatheter.

Compared with treatment using a standard endhole microcatheter, patients treated with the Surefire device had a higher rate of complete response in one treatment (80% vs. 52%), lower rate of liver cancer at 1 month (13% vs. 52%), higher percentage of chemo beads delivered to the tumor (89% vs. 55%) and higher mean percentage of tumor necrosis (89% vs. 56%).

The researchers recently presented the results of this study at the 2017 American Transplant Congress.

Reference: www.surefiremedical.com