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Updated: Jun 25, 2026
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Delivery of Antibodies into the Murine Brain via Convection-enhanced Delivery
Published on: July 18, 2019
Convection-enhanced delivery: neurosurgical issues
1Department of Neurosurgery, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA. hallw@upstate.edu
Current Drug Targets
|February 10, 2009
Summary
Targeted toxins delivered via convection-enhanced delivery (CED) show promise for brain tumors but face challenges. Optimizing drug distribution and imaging are key to improving therapeutic outcomes for brain tumor patients.
Area of Science:
- Neuro-oncology
- Neurosurgery
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Primary brain tumors have a poor prognosis despite standard treatments like surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
- Targeted toxins are an innovative therapy, but their large molecular size necessitates specialized delivery methods like convection-enhanced delivery (CED) due to the blood-brain barrier.
- Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) requires careful pharmacokinetic consideration to optimize drug distribution and therapeutic efficacy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the advancements and challenges in using convection-enhanced delivery (CED) for targeted toxin administration in brain tumors.
- To discuss pharmacokinetic considerations, catheter designs, and imaging techniques relevant to CED.
- To highlight the limitations and future directions for CED in treating brain tumors and other neurological diseases.
Main Methods:
- Review of literature on convection-enhanced delivery (CED) techniques for targeted toxin administration.
- Discussion of catheter design, including hollow fiber advantages.
- Exploration of imaging modalities like MRI and SPECT for tracking drug distribution.
Main Results:
- Hollow fiber catheters offer advantages for CED.
- Optimization of catheter placement parameters enhances drug distribution.
- Imaging techniques are being developed to visualize drug distribution, but challenges remain.
- Infusion failures due to leaks or pooling in necrotic tissue are common.
- No targeted toxin clinical trial has yet shown statistically significant results for universal acceptance.
Conclusions:
- Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) is a promising method for delivering targeted toxins across the blood-brain barrier for brain tumors.
- Further optimization of delivery parameters, catheter technology, and imaging is needed to overcome current limitations.
- CED is also being explored for non-neoplastic neurological diseases and other brain regions beyond the cerebral hemispheres.
