A PHASE-II PILOT-STUDY OF THE COMBINED APPLICATION OF HYPERTHERMIA AND INTRA-HEPATO-ARTERIAL CHEMOTHERAPY USING CISPLATINUM AND 5-FLUOROURACIL

Fourteen patients (group A) with unresectable metastasis to the liver from colorectal cancers (11 patients) and gastric cancers (3 patients) were treated with the combined application of hyperthermia and intra-hepato-arterial (IHA) chemotherapy with cisplatinum and 5-fluorouracil. Ten patients were treated with regional hyperthermia applied with a radiofrequency capacitive heating system and four patients were treated with total-body hyperthermia concurrently with IHA chemotherapy. Thirty-one patients (group B) with liver metastases from colorectal and gastric cancers received only IHA chemotherapy with the same chemotherapeutic regimen. In group B, partial responses (PRs) were obtained in 8 of 17 evaluable patients with colorectal cancer and in 1 of 10 evaluable patients with gastric cancer. In group A, PRs were found in 6 of 11 patients with colorectal cancer and in 2 of 3 patients with gastric cancer. Furthermore, improvements due to the combination of chemotherapy with hyperthermia were noted in 3 of 6 patients with colorectal cancer who had received unsuccessful prior IHA chemotherapy. The 50% survival period was prolonged to 23 months in group A from 11 months in group B, for patients with colorectal cancer. Toxicity of IHA chemotherapy was not potentiated by combination with hyperthermia. These results indicate that the combination of hyperthermia with IHA chemotherapy has a therapeutic benefit in the treatment of unresectable metastatic liver tumors derived from colorectal and gastric cancers.