Contrast developer Guerbet has received regulatory approval in China for its Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid contrast agent for transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at intermediate stage in adult patients.
With the move, China's National Medical Products Administration gives Guerbet an additional indication for Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid in the field of interventional oncology. Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid is indicated for conventional TACE, a minimally invasive procedure that involves mixing the agent with an anticancer drug and injecting it transarterially in the liver as a targeted chemotherapy treatment for unresectable HCC tumors.
The company notes that HCC is the most common primary liver cancer and the fourth leading cause of death due to cancer worldwide, with China representing over 50% of all primary liver cancers globally, as the country has the highest prevalence of liver cancer worldwide.
Guerbet notes that Lipiodol Ultra-Fluid can act as a contrast agent, a drug vehicle, or a dual arterio-portal transient embolic.
![Images show the pectoralis muscles of a healthy male individual who never smoked (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; body mass index [BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared], 28.4; number of cigarette pack-years, 0; forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], 97.6% predicted; FEV1: forced vital capacity [FVC] ratio, 0.71; pectoralis muscle area [PMA], 59.4 cm2; pectoralis muscle volume [PMV], 764 cm3) and a male individual with a smoking history and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) (age, 66 years; height, 178 cm; BMI, 27.5; number of cigarette pack-years, 43.2, FEV1, 48% predicted; FEV1:FVC, 0.56; PMA, 35 cm2; PMV, 480.8 cm3) from the Canadian Cohort Obstructive Lung Disease (i.e., CanCOLD) study. The CT image is shown in the axial plane. The PMV is automatically extracted using the developed deep learning model and overlayed onto the lungs for visual clarity.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/03/genkin.25LqljVF0y.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=focalpoint&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
