Preoperative and therapeutic embolization of extremities of bone and soft tissue tumors.

Embolization of bone and soft tissue tumors has a broad range of indications, from curative treatment to palliation. The main purpose of embolization is to occlude as much of the tumor blood supply as possible. The outcome ranges from complete tumor devascularization and necrosis to degrees of ischemia and hypovascularity. Thus, the tumor will shrink, bleeding will be reduced, borders between the tumor and surrounding tissue will become clear, and resection will be easier. The purpose of this study was to correlate the effectiveness of preoperative embolization with the blood loss and transfusion requirement during surgery for bone or soft tissue tumors.