Pre-operative arterial embolisation in renal carcinoma.

Nephrectomy for carcinoma is often accompanied by moderate or severe bleeding but this may be reduced by prior occlusion of the renal artery. Embolisation with fresh autologous clot is rendered ineffective by rapid lysis. In vitro experiments showed that the clot could be stabilised by the addition of epsilon amino caproic acid (EACA). By injecting stabilised clot into the renal arterysatisfactory devascularisation of kidney and tumour was achieved in 10 patients.