Tumors that are very vascular (have many blood vessels) are often difficult or dangerous to remove surgically, and patients with these tumors require a multidisciplinary team of specialists for treatment. Prior to surgery, endovascular embolization of the tumor, performed by a team of endovascular specialists, can shrink the tumor and decrease its blood supply.

Pre-operative endovascular embolization permits the surgeon to perform a safer and more successful surgical excision of the tumor. In some cases, even when there is no possibility for the tumor to be removed, endovascular embolization can be successful in reducing pain or other symptoms caused by the tumor.

Infusion therapy, a new endovascular technique in which cancer-fighting medication (chemotherapy) is delivered directly to the site of the tumor, has the benefit of decreasing the side effects of chemotherapy while delivering a higher dose of chemotherapy to the tumor. Physicians at the Hyman-Newman Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Center for Endovascular Surgery are on the leading edge of infusion therapy for the treatment of tumors.