Renal arterial embolization with absolute ethanol

Twenty separate infarction procedures with absolute ethanol were performed on eighteen renal tumors in seventeen patients at Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital since 1982. Fifteen were hypernephroma cases and two were angiomyolipoma cases. The indications for renal infarction were the preoperative interruption of renal arterial flow in eight cases of hypernephroma, and primary therapy or palliation of symptoms in seven cases of hypernephroma and two cases of angiomyolipoma. Average 15ml of absolute ethanol was injected for renal arterial embolization at a rate of 1-2 ml/sec via balloon occlusion catheter or superselective administration technique. Though the long-term beneficial effect on survival was not confirmed, transcatheter embolization with absolute ethanol was suggested to be used as indispensible treatment in preoperative and inoperable or symptomatic cases of renal tumor.