Creation of small gelatin particles by pumping method for transarterial chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma: analysis of particle size and reproducibility.

Abstract

Spherical porous gelatin particles (Gelpart(®), Nippon Kayaku, Tokyo) were crushed by a pumping method to create small gelatin particles for transarterial chemoembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of this study was to analyze crushed particle size. To minimize the size of crushed particles, we used the pumping method using two 2.5-mL syringes connected by a 3-way stopcock. Sixteen samples created by 3 operators were examined. The crushed particles were stained with hematoxylin-eosin, images magnified by a microscope were captured using a digital camera, and the maximum length of each particle was measured. The differences in particle size within the same operator and among the 3 operators were examined by an ANOVA test. The particle sizes created by each operator were 139.0 ± 58.8, 201.1 ± 90.9, and 158.4 ± 72.0 µm, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in particle size among the 3 operators (p < 0.01). With one operator, there was no statistically significant difference in the particle size among the 4 samples (p = 0.93). With 2 operators, there were statistically significant differences among 5, or 7 samples, respectively (p < 0.01). Small gelatin particles can be created with Gelpart(®) by the pumping method, but mean particle size was different among samples and not reproducible.