[Neoadjuvant intraarterial chemotherapy for ten cases of inflammatory breast cancer by Seldinger's methods]

The conventional methods (CM) of intraarterial (IA) chemotherapy for inflammatory breast cancer were catheterizations from superior epigastric and brachial artery under general anesthesia. Since 1997, we selected the Seldinger's methods (SM) for ten cases of the disease to control local effects and simplify the technique. Complications of the SM were slight, and side effects were equal to those with CM. The postoperative pathological findings of the SM showed the direct effects of chemotherapy to tumor cells (degenerative and necrotic changes) as compared with the embolism-like effects of CM. But the overall histological effects of chemotherapy by SM were almost equal to those for CM. The strong points of the SM were as follows: 1) More selective IA chemotherapy is available, 2) one can find the passage of the aim vessels and no trouble related to catheter, 3) general anesthesia is not necessary, and the techniques are simple, 4) the wounds are not remarkable. The disadvantages are as follows: 1) Patients must rest the day of IA chemotherapy, 2) in 20% of the procedures, one can not search the vessels, and 3) in 4 cases complications of stiffness of Mj or Mn pectral muscles were found. In future, we expect more effective results by dose escalation or combination chemotherapy.