Studies of Selective Arterial Perfusion plus Chemoembolization on Hepatic Metastasis from Rectal Cancer

OBJECTIVE To develop an effectual method for treating hepatic metas-tasis from rectal cancer. METHODS A randomized control study of celiac artery perfusion plus transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) (observation group) and intravenous chemotherapy (control group) for 99 cases with hepatic me-tastasis from rectal cancer was performed. The perfusion was repeated once at 4 weeks after the first treatment of 52 cases in the observation group, and it was subsequently repeated at an interval of 2 or 3 months. Using intrave-nous administration, the perfusion was repeated once every 3 weeks with 47 cases in the control group. RESULTS Three months after treatment, the patients in the observation group who showed a relief or elimination of a former superior abdominal pain amounted to 70.6%, and those with a diminution of their intrahepatic mass reached 55.8%. In the control group, the patients with a relief or disappear-ance of hepatalgia reached 20%, and those with a diminution of their intrahe-patic mass reached 10.6%. The 1, 2 and 3-year survival rates were 80.8%, 46.2% and 25.0% in the cases of the observation group and 61.7%, 19.1% and 4.3% in the control group, respectively. CONCLUSION For the patients who failed to receive a surgical opera-tion on their hepatic metastasis from rectal cancer, celiac artery perfusion plus TACE is a more effective regimen for improvement of the clinical symp-toms and extension of the survival time, compared to intravenous chemo-therapy, and is a better choice for palliative therapy.