title: Intermittent transcatheter therapy through a new indwelling catheter system for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper describes the technical details of the new indwelling catheter system, which we refer to as System-i, and provides an overview of our experience with this system at our institution.
  
  
  METHODS
  The system is implanted via the left brachial artery. The feeding artery of the tumor is catheterized at each treatment, and the system can be used for multiple treatments via more than one feeding artery. Between January 2004 and January 2013, System-i was used to administer 398 treatments in 30 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The technical aspects and outcomes of treatment procedures were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Implantation was successful in all cases. System-i was used for a median number of 11 treatments per patient over a median period of 5.7 months, and 71.6 % of all treatments were administered on an outpatient basis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  System-i provides an effective and safe method for selective catheterization of feeding arteries for administration of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization or infusion in patients with HCC. Treatment regimens can be individualized without limiting the number of treatments or treatment locations, and patients can be treated on an outpatient basis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Keio University, School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-8582, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Itano
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Itano
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagamatsu
authors.forename: Rina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsutsui
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deguchi
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Seishi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakatsuka
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000628:therapy*; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling; D016461:Chemoembolization, Therapeutic / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007261:Infusions, Intra-Arterial / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome