Abstract
To evaluate the efficacy of intra-arterial chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia for malignant liver tumors, our cooperative study group carried out a randomized clinical trial of intra-arterial chemotherapy alone and intraarterial chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia. Fifteen patients were registered by telephone contact and allocated at random to groups treated with either intra-arterial chemotherapy alone or combined therapy. Patients were treated with combined chemotherapy of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), epirubucin (EPIR), mitomycin C (MMC) by hepatic infusion using a subcutaneously implanted reservoir. Hyperthermia (8MHz radiofrequency) was usually performed for 40-60 min every week, and intra-arterial chemotherapy was performed immediately before hyperthermia. Therapeutic effects were evaluated by examining the changes in tumor size on computed tomography, and/or intratumor low density areas on posttreatment computed tomography. There were no favorable responses obtained in the patients treated with intra-arterial chemotherapy alone. Among patients treated with combined therapy, PRh was observed in one patient with hepatocellular carcinoma, PR in one patient with hepatocellular carcinoma and two patients with metastatic liver cancer, These results suggest that intraarterial chemotherapy combined with hyperthermia may be a useful modality for the treatment of either non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma or metastatic liver cancer.
