Presurgical internal maxillary artery embolization in juvenile angiofibroma

Embolization of the internal maxillary artery with barium impregnated silastic spheres was performed in four patients with juvenile angiofibroma of the nasopharynx. Three of the cases were done prior to the initial surgical resection to reduce operative hemorrhage. The fourth case was a postoperative recurrence, and embolization was performed to evaluate the clinical response of the tumor. The technical aspects of the procedure, the rationale for embolization and pertinent literature are reviewed.