[An experimental study of ethanol injection on VX2 liver cancer]

Ethanol injection therapy for rabbit VX2 cancer of the liver was performed to measure the extent of ethanol infiltration using normal hepatic tissue as control, to observe the serial histological findings after ethanol injection, and to determine the influence of the ethanol on survival days with VX2 cancer of the liver. The necrotic area caused by ethanol showed a significant dose-dependent correlation in the range of 0.1-1.0ml in the normal liver, and a significant correlation in the range of 0.2-1.0ml also in VX2 cancer of the liver. Further, VX2 cancer of the liver showed a significant extension in the number of survival days in the injection group after ethanol injection; 39.5 +/- 5.7 days in the injection group, against 29.3 +/- 2.9 days in the control group. In the successive observation of histological findings after injection, fibrosis started from the 3rd-5th day after ethanol injection and showed acceleration after the 7th day. Eosinophilic infiltration was seen in the VX2 cancer group but not among the controls. Since ethanol causes direct necrosis of the injected region, it is suggested that ethanol injection therapy is a potentially effective method of treating cancer of the liver.