Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Fung, Lawrence K.
• Saltzman, W.Mark

Titel

Polymeric implants for cancer chemotherapy

Ist Teil von

• Advanced drug delivery reviews, 1997-07, Vol.26 (2), p.209-230

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

1997

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Elsevier Journal Backfiles on ScienceDirect (DFG Nationallizenzen)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Cancer chemotherapy is not always effective. Difficulties in drug delivery to the tumor, drug toxicity to normal tissues, and drug stability in the body contribute to this problem. Polymeric materials provide an alternate means for delivering chemotherapeutic agents. When anticancer drugs are encapsulated in polymers, they can be protected from degradation. Implanted polymeric pellets or injected microspheres localize therapy to specific anatomic sites, providing a continuous sustained release of anticancer drugs while minimizing systemic exposure. In certain cases, polymeric microspheres delivered intravascularly can be targeted to specific organs or tumors. This article reviews the principles of chemotherapy using polymer implants and injectable microspheres, and summarizes recent preclinical and clinical studies of this new technology for treating cancer.