A bioabsorbable, implantable bead/microsphere intended to be used to temporarily occlude an artery supplying hyperplastic/neoplastic tissue in a variety of anatomies (e.g., liver, lung, breast, bladder, uterus, head or neck); it does not include a pharmaceutical agent. It may be used independently to create ischemia in the tissue, or as an adjuvant in combination with cytostatic agents and other antitumour drugs to help optimize intra-tumour drug accumulation for interventional radiology and visceral surgery procedures. It is typically available as an injectable solution containing numerous microspheres [e.g., degradable starch microspheres (DSM)].