8-549.01:

Your liver has been specifically treated via an artery with a drug that is intended to damage pathologically altered cells.

Arteries are blood vessels that transport blood away from the heart. They supply all the tissue in the body with oxygen-rich blood. Veins are blood vessels that transport the blood back to the heart.

For the treatment, a thin tube was first inserted into an artery at the groin. This tube was pushed through your artery to your liver. A second tube was inserted into a vein at the groin. This tube was pushed forward into the inferior vena cava. The inferior vena cava is a large blood vessel. It collects oxygen-poor blood from the liver, for example, and carries it back to the heart. There are two small balloons on the tube in the inferior vena cava. In the area between the two balloons, the blood normally flows from the liver back to the heart. When the balloons are filled, this blood flow is interrupted.

You were then given a drug via the tube in your liver. The two balloons keep the drug largely in the liver, where the intention is for it to damage pathologically altered cells. The blood is then sucked out of the liver via the tube in the inferior vena cava. The blood first flows through a special filter that removes the drug from the blood. This is to prevent the drug from getting into the rest of the body. The blood then flows back into the body via another tube.