73-year-old Qin Bo (pseudonym) had been suffering from upper abdominal pain for the past six months, especially when hungry. Initially, he ignored it until a gastroscopy at a local hospital in his hometown in April 2025. The results were heartbreaking: a large ulcerated area at the corner of his stomach, with irregular protrusions of the surrounding mucosa, was discovered. He was highly suspicious for gastric malignancy (Gastric CA awaiting pathology), and multiple polyps were also found.

What is even more worrying is that Qin Bo suffers from high blood pressure, which once reached 190/90 mmHg, and he did not take medication regularly to control it, which added considerable risks to subsequent treatment.

Faced with advanced age and uncontrolled hypertension, the risks of undergoing radical gastric cancer surgery, which is quite invasive, were extremely high. Qin Bo and his family came to our hospital's Minimally Invasive Interventional Department, seeking a more optimal treatment option.

After a detailed evaluation, Chief Physician Huang Deliang's team developed a two-step individualized strategy for Qinbo: first, use minimally invasive interventional treatment to accurately attack the tumor and control the lesions, creating safer conditions for subsequent radical surgery.

01 Interventional treatment:

Precise "targeting" to reduce lesions and reduce risks

In April and May 2025, Qinbo underwent two key minimally invasive gastric artery superselective angiography, infusion chemotherapy and embolization procedures respectively.

1. Accurate positioning: Chief Physician Huang Deliang first performed celiac axis angiography to clearly display a "map" of the gastric blood supply arteries.

2. Targeting the key points: Using an ultra-fine catheter, the catheter is inserted into the left gastric artery and the right gastroepiploic artery, the two main blood supply arteries for the tumor, as if guided by a missile.

3. Highly efficient attack: High concentrations of chemotherapy drugs are directly infused into the tumor through the catheter, achieving the effect of "local high concentration and systemic low toxicity" and maximizing the killing of tumor cells.

4. Blocking the supply of food: Embolization of some blood vessels is equivalent to "cutting off the supply of food", further inhibiting tumor growth and making the range of the lesion clearer and more limited.

02 Significant results:

Interventional therapy "escorts" radical surgery

These two minimally invasive interventional treatments achieved the expected results:

• Effective control of lesions: Precise drug infusion and embolization significantly inhibited tumor activity and better defined the scope of lesions.
• Improved physical condition: The interventional treatment was minimally invasive (requiring only a tiny puncture point at the base of the thigh), and Qinbo recovered quickly, which saved him energy for subsequent major surgery.
• Reduced surgical risk: Interventional therapy reduced the tumor burden and controlled local progression. During the process, Qinbo's hypertension was better managed preoperatively, significantly reducing the difficulty and risk of subsequent radical surgery, making it possible.

03 Successful surgery:

A crucial step toward a cure

After the successful interventional treatment, Qinbo's physical condition and local tumor control reached an ideal state. In June 2025, our hospital's surgical team successfully performed a laparoscopically assisted subtotal gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection and gastrojejunostomy on Qinbo.

The operation went smoothly, successfully removing the tumor and performing a standardized lymph node dissection. This marked a crucial step for Qinbo in his fight against gastric cancer, giving him the opportunity for radical treatment.

During Qinbo's postoperative recovery, Chief Physician Huang Deliang continued to follow up on his pathology report. The pathological analysis showed that the tumor was confined to the submucosal layer, with no lymph node metastasis, and the stage was significantly earlier than the preoperative imaging assessment.

Chief Physician Huang Deliang expressed deep satisfaction, saying, "From precise intervention to successful surgery, every step was inseparable from the firm cooperation of the patient's family and the careful collaboration of the medical team."