[Combined regional chemotherapy and radiotherapy of liver metastases]

In an attempt to treat patients with non-resectable liver metastases more effectively, hepatic arterial chemotherapy (12 g 5-FU in 3 weeks) was combined with simultaneous whole liver irradiation (8 Gy every week, total dose of 24 Gy). 54 of the 64 patients receiving this treatment had liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma. The objective response rate, judged by CAT scan, was nearly 60%. The median survival of responders was 18 months in contrast to 8 months for nonresponders. There have been 5 lethal complications, 3 of which were related to the combined modality. For safer and better results a more exact selection is needed.