[Evaluation of prophylactic hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy after hepatectomy for metastases from colorectal cancer]

The significance of continuous hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy of 5-FU to prevent recurrence in the remnant liver following curative hepatectomy for colorectal metastases was analyzed in the prospective randomized study. Patients of HAI chemotherapy group received 6 weeks of 5-FU 500 mg/day. The one- and two-year overall survival rates of nine patients with HAI therapy were 87.5% and 87.5%, respectively, while the rates of ten cases without the regional chemotherapy were 100% and 66.7%, respectively, indicating no obvious difference. On the other hand, the disease-free survival rates of HAI Group were higher than those of control group. The disease-free survival rates of the former were 75.0% at one-year and 75.0% at two-year, and the rates of the latter were 47.6% and 47.6%, respectively. No serious complications such as severe liver dysfunction, sclerotic cholangitis or hepatic necrosis were observed. Although the follow-up period was not enough long to accurately evaluate the efficacy, local prophylactic chemotherapy by continuous infusion of 5-FU could be a promising method as an adjuvant chemotherapy after hepatic resection for colorectal metastases.