Effective retreatment of patients with colorectal cancer and liver metastases

Twenty-two patients with colorectal cancer and metastatic liver disease in whom systemic intravenous therapy with 5-fluorouracil previously had failed were given fluorodeoxyuridine and mitomycin C by hepatic arterial infusion. Ten of the 22 patients (45.4 percent) had a partial response and median survival of 14 months, as opposed to a median survival of six months among the 12 patients who did not have response to the treatment (p = 0.02). Hepatic arterial occlusion was effected in seven of the 10 patients who responded and in seven of the 12 nonresponding patients. Such manipulation of hepatic arterial blood flow did not have a significant effect on the survival duration in either group. Retreatment of patients with colon cancer and liver metastases by hepatic arterial infusion of fluorodeoxyuridine and mitomycin C can result in significant prolongation of survival in patients with response to this treatment.