Clinical Study of Continuous Intra-Arterial Infusion Therapy via the Occipital Artery for Head and Neck Carcinomas

Abstract

We report the results of continuous intra-arterial infusion therapy via the occipital artery, cornbined with radiotherapy, for treatment of head and neck carcinomas in three patients. An angiographic catheter was inserted retrogradely into the artery feeding tumor, via the occipital artery which is used for rotational DSA.
Two of the three patients treated had temporal carcinoma and the other had maxillary sinus cancer. No complications occurred in any of the patients as a result of this procedure.
This procedure was considered very useful when an approach from the superficial temporal artery was impossible due to prior treatment or direct invasion.