A reappraisal of intra-arterial chemotherapy. Results obtained in 145 patients with head and neck cancer treated during 1963-1966 with intra-arterial chemotherapy followed by radical radiotherapy
✍ Scribed by C. Nervi; G. Arcangeli; C. Casale; M. Cortese; A. Guadagni; V. Le Pera
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1970
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 431 KB
- Volume
- 26
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0008-543X
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
I strated49 5. 7, 10, 11 that protracted intraarterial Chemotherapy with cytotoxic agents is particularly effective in shrinking or causing transient complete regression in cancer. Rest results have been observed in head and neck, limb, and liver cancer, as the specific vascularization of these areas permits a high concentration of the drug in the tumor mass.
Intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy has been mainly employed for palliation in locally advanced disease considered incurable by surgeons and radiotherapists.
I t is well known that the extent of the primary tumor alone adversely influences the final outcome of radiation therapy. Radiation treatment can be more easily performed and better results can, therefore, be obtained in patients with moderately extended disease. Spurred on by the efficacy of regional anticancer chemotherapy, we became intrigued with the possibility of reducing the initial extension of head and neck cancer by means of intra-arterial chemotherapy so that radical radiotherapy, sequentially administered, could be carried out on reduced lesions.
T h e aim of the study was to demonstrate that the prognosis was related to the extension of the disease after reduction obtained by employing chemotherapy, and not to the initial size of the tumor.
Head and neck cancer was chosen because intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy is particularly indicated in these tumors. Furthermore, the results obtained by the regional administration of cytotoxic agents in these malignancies are better than those achieved with systemic chemotherapy.