The surgical aspects of the totally implantable hepatic artery infusion pump

The design of a totally implantable hepatic artery infusion pump in 1969 made the use of hepatic artery infusion feasible and practical as a treatment for patients with hepatic neoplasms. The implantable pumps could function for long periods and reliably infuse a measured quantity of drug into the hepatic artery in a continuous fashion. This enabled oncologists to give much higher doses of chemotherapy directly into the blood supply of the tumors as well as to use a continuous infusion schedule.