For a patient told that a tumor is too big, too widespread or too entrenched for the surgeon’s knife, the search for options tends to lead out of the usual hospital corridors. One destination is Envita Medical Centers, at 8759 East Bell Road in Scottsdale, Arizona, which promotes a procedure it calls Chemo Immuno Precision Injections, or CIPI.
What CIPI is meant to do
Envita describes CIPI as a minimally invasive treatment developed by its interventional radiology department, EnvitaIR. It is aimed at fibrous tumors that are too large, too numerous or too invasive for surgical removal. Because nothing is cut open, the clinic says, the body and the immune system are spared the damage an operation can cause.
The clinic was founded by CEO Dr. Dino Prato and says it has treated late-stage cancer patients for more than 20 years. It calls itself a center of excellence for precision oncology, with over 150 employees, and pairs conventional care with what it describes as research-based alternative intravenous medicine.
Inside the procedure
Preparation is simple but strict. Patients stop eating eight hours beforehand, though clear liquids are fine until two hours before. Blood thinners such as Coumadin, Lovenox and Plavix must be stopped, and an Envita physician sets the timing. Someone has to drive the patient home.
The procedure runs from 30 minutes to two hours. Patients are under conscious sedation, relaxed but able to talk to the team. Local anesthesia numbs the incision site. Through a tiny cut in the skin, the doctor threads a microcatheter, a thin flexible tube, to the tumor’s main artery, watching its progress by X-ray fluoroscopy. A contrast injection lights up the arteries in and around the tumor. Images are taken before and after to confirm blood flow has been shut off.
Then come the beads. Injected into the artery, they choke off the blood that feeds the tumor. They also carry a patient-specific mix of micro-dosed chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs, matched to the biomarkers of that person’s cancer, and release it slowly. The aim, Envita says, is a high dose where it is needed and minimal harm to healthy cells. Afterward the patient rests on a recovery bed for four to six hours before going home.
Side effects and risks
Envita lists post-embolization symptoms that many patients experience: pain, nausea, vomiting and fever, which can last up to a week. Medication controls them, the clinic says. Beads can lodge in the wrong place and cut off blood to normal tissue, which is why the tumor’s blood pathways are mapped first. Chemotherapy reactions can include nausea, hair loss, lower white blood cell counts or anemia. Major complications, involving infection or damage to the liver, occur in about one in 20 patients, according to Envita.
The work behind the treatment
Before anything is injected, patients go through detailed testing, imaging and an in-person consultation to establish whether they are candidates. Envita says its drug design draws on molecular profiling, metabolic analysis and immuno-profiling. While tumor molecular profiles are completed, a process of two to three weeks, patients receive supportive treatments to prepare the body.
The clinical team includes Dr. Matthew Klein, Dr. Ruth Tan Lim, Dr. Gayle A. Roberts, Dr. John Oertle, Dr. Ronald Matthias, Dr. Michael Hummel, Dr. Daniel Warren, Dr. Zachary Poteet and Dr. Rory Sears. Envita says its regimens have helped patients with advanced cancers, many of whom other providers had steered toward hospice.
Those traveling for the weeks of preparation should plan their own lodging. Envita does not provide housing, but it works with local realtors and hotels to arrange reduced rates for extended stays.
Sources
- Chemo Immuno Precision Injections (CIPI™) | Envita Interventional Radiology
- Envita
- Envita Medical Centers – Cost & Reviews (2026)
Photo: César Badilla Miranda / Unsplash (Unsplash License)
