KES8-1603
Polymeric Composite Materials for Interventional Oncology Image-Guided Medicine in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Topic
S8. Frontiers of Functional Polymers in Biology and Medicine
When and Where
Oct 1, 2026
15:10 - 15:35
Room 108
Session Chairs
Mikyung SHIN
Jin YOO
Presenter(s)
Dong Hyun Kim (Northwestern University)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is preferentially supplied by the hepatic artery, making it uniquely addressable by catheter-directed intra-arterial delivery. This anatomy converts an oncologic problem into a polymer-engineering one: catheter deliverability, calibrated occlusion, tunable degradation, programmed release, and intrinsic imageability are all materials design specifications. I will first revisit drug-eluting embolic polymeric microspheres, in which designing polymeric nanocomposite governing loading and release of potential anti-cancer agents such as doxorubicin and sorafenib, while calibrated size dictates distal tumor penetration. I will then examine the biodegradability frontier, PLGA and alginate, where degradation kinetics decouple transient occlusion from sustained release and permit repeat treatment. Building on this, I will present biodegradable, imageable microspheres designed to make the delivered distribution of embolic agents directly visible, enabling image-based monitoring that conventional embolic microspheres cannot provide. Anisotropic Janus microcarriers will illustrate magnetically actuated combination chemotherapy, and locoregional immunomodulatory carriers will show how polymers can convert ablation into in-situ vaccination. Finally, I will propose a design target for the field's next horizon: a single degradable particle that occludes, releases, reports its delivered dose by imaging, and primes antitumor immunity.
