Isolated lung perfusion for the treatment of pulmonary metastatic disease: a review

Isolated lung perfusion with chemotherapeutic agents is an experimental technique for the treatment of lung metastatic disease from certain solid tumours. The technique had already been developed in the late 1950s but underwent a revival in the early 1980s. By that time, experimental work in large and small animals induced extensive clinical work with different agents such as doxorubicin, tumour necrosis factor, melphalan and cisplatin for which safety profiles and maximal tolerated doses were defined. A review of current work is presented in this article.