A case of hepatocellular carcinoma effectively treated with epirubicin aqueous vesicles in monodispersed iodized poppy-seed oil microdroplets.

A 64-year-old woman with a solitary mass (18 mm in diameter) of hepatocellular carcinoma underwent hepatic arterial infusion therapy with water-in-oil-in-water emulsion (W/O/W) prepared by the membrane emulsification technique using a controlled pore glass membrane. In the W/O/W, numerous microdroplets of iodized poppy-seed oil (IPSO), which contained many vesicles of aqueous solution of epirubicin, were suspended in the external aqueous phase. The mean diameter of the IPSO microdroplets was 30 microns. Seventeen milliliters of the W/O/W containing 40 mg of epirubicin and 5 ml of IPSO was infused into the proper hepatic artery. No severe side effects were encountered. Computed tomography taken 3 days after the treatment revealed a clearly defined deposition of IPSO within the tumor. Serum alpha-fetoprotein levels, 5.35x10(3) ng/ml, before treatment, decreased to 131 ng/ml on 38 days after treatment. The tumor was extirpated and histopathological examination revealed complete necrosis of the tumor.