Abstract
The usefulness of transvascular embolization before radical nephrectomy using absolute ethanol was studied in thirty-two cases with renal cell carcinoma, among them, 30 cases received radical nephrectomy one day after transvascular embolization. And a nation wide questionnaire survey regarding the embolization was also reported.
These results were as follows:
1. The infarcted areas were very extensive and among 28 cases examined, 26 cases showed more than 75% of infarct in the whole area of the cortex.
2. Among 32 cases, 22 cases complained of no pain after the embolization using absolute ethanol only by the preventive epidural administration of analgesics.
3. The questionnaire survey showed that the embolization before radical nephrectomy was performed in 62% of the hospitals as a whole, including 81 hospitals (41%) in which the embolization was performed case by case. In the whole of hospitals, 21% performed the embolization principally by evaluating the significans of the embolization. On the other hand, 19% of the hospitals did not perform by the reason of no significans of the embolization on the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. As shown in this questionnaire survey, the signif icans of the embolization before radical nephrectomy was still debatable in our country.
4. In 62% of the hospitals where the empolization is carried out, as a whole, the period from embolization to the nephrectomy was 3-7 days. And in 42% of the hospitals as a whole absolute ethanol was principlly used as an embolizing agent.
In conclusion we believe that absolute ethanol was useful and should find further application as an embolizing agent before the radical nephrectomy.
