[Arterial oil chemoembolization: a new method of treatment for pancreatic cancer]

A novel method of intra-arterial oily chemoembolization of pancreatic tumor has been developed. It slowed down regional blood flow in tumor dramatically due to injection of gemcitabin-in-oil. As a result, a prolonged contact of tumor with the highly-concentrated chemotherapeutic drug along the microcirculatory bed was assured. Enhanced antitumor effect, unaccompanied by any increase in systemic toxicity, was obtained by intensifying gemcitabin perfusion in the tissue. Tumor vessels had to be contrast-enhanced during the selective angiography of great vessels feeding the pancreas. Diagnostic angiography was performed in 63 patients with locally advanced tumors (T4NxMo) in 1999-2002. A total of 98 intra-arterial oily chemoembolizations (1-11 per patient) were carried out in 32 (51%). One or two-year survival rates in these patients after hemzar were 50 and 15%, respectively. Arterial oily chemoembolization is a safe and potentially effective method for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.