BTG plc, a global specialist healthcare company, announced the treatment of the first patients in the EU with DC Bead LUMI. Two patients were treated for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and one patient was treated for malignant colorectal cancer metastasised to the liver (mCRC).

DC Bead LUMI is the first commercially available radiopaque drug-eluting bead (DEB) in the EU which can be loaded with doxorubicin or irinotecan for the local treatment of tumours in patients with HCC and mCRC, respectively. DC Bead LUMI is a next-generation development of DC Bead, the market leading drug-loadable embolic bead.

At the Istituto Oncologico Veneto, Padova, Italy, Dr Camillo Aliberti, Director of Radiology, and his team performed transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) procedures using DC Bead LUMI, enabling real-time, visible, lasting confirmation of bead location during and post-embolisation of tumours in the liver.

"We are very pleased with the results from treatment in our patients, and DC Bead LUMI offered clear, real-time evidence on the treatment of the target lesion while the long-term radiopacity means not only can we see where we are delivering the treatment during the procedure, but we can also identify areas of successful treatment - or under treatment - in follow up scans." said Dr Aliberti.  

DC Bead LUMI gained Class III CE Mark certification in early March, 2017.

DC Bead LUMI is the first commercially available radiopaque drug-eluting bead (DEB) which can be loaded with doxorubicin or irinotecan for the local treatment of tumours in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and malignant colorectal cancer metastasised to the liver (mCRC). DC Bead LUMI™ are precisely calibrated, radiopaque DEB developed using the same core chemistry as the clinically proven DC Bead®. DC Bead LUMI™ contain a covalently bound radiopaque moiety to offer inherent, lasting radiopacity; they are visible under imaging (computed tomography [CT], cone-beam computed tomography [CBCT] and fluoroscopy) providing visible confirmation of bead location during embolisation procedures. The lasting radiopacity of DC Bead LUMI means they will also be visible in follow-up scans.

DC Bead is the only drug-eluting bead with CE Mark approval for loading with doxorubicin or irinotecan, providing an effective standardised liver-directed therapy for primary and metastatic liver cancer. With more than ten years' clinical experience, extensive peer-review evidence supports the benefits offered by the unique chemistry of DC Bead. In intermediate HCC, these benefits include improved tolerability and tumour response versus cTACE and high rates of five-year survival. In metastatic colorectal cancer patients, DC Bead has been shown to offer improved survival and enhanced quality of life versus systemic chemotherapy alone.