Patent ID: 8287840

Claim:
A method for delivering a chemotherapeutic agent to a malignant solid tumor in a patient, comprising; delivering to the patient a first plurality of biodegradable microparticles through an artery to a first location at or near the malignant solid tumor, wherein the first plurality of biodegradable microparticles comprises a chemotherapeutic agent and wherein the first plurality of biodegradable microparticles has a mean diameter of about 10 to 300 Î¼m; delivering a second plurality of biodegradable microparticles through the artery to a second location proximal to the location at which the first plurality of biodegradable microparticles was delivered, wherein the second plurality of biodegradable microparticles has a mean diameter of about 900 to about 1200 Î¼m, and wherein: the first plurality of biodegradable microparticles and second plurality of biodegradable microparticles are administered sequentially at different times, the second plurality of biodegradable microparticles is lodged in a target artery between where the first plurality of biodegradable microparticles has lodged and the heart, and a therapeutically effective amount of the chemotherapeutic agent is released as the first plurality of biodegradable microparticles degrades over a period of at least 6 months while the second plurality of biodegradable microparticles substantially completely cuts off the flow of blood to the tumor upon initial delivery to its location and as it degrades over the same time-span as the first plurality of biodegradable microparticles, blood flow is restored.