The role of regional intra-arterial chemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer to the liver

Objective: To study the role of regional intra-arterial chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer to the liver. Materials and methods: In the study of the frequency of responses to chemotherapy, 49 patients were included in the group of regional intra-arterial chemotherapy, 51 patients were classified in the group of systemic chemotherapy. Long-term survival in the group of regional intra-arterial chemotherapy was studied in 28 patients, whereas in the group of systemic chemotherapy this effect was estimated in 25 patients. Results: The frequency of positive responses to the first line of chemotherapy was significantly higher in the group of regional intra-arterial chemotherapy, and the frequency of intrahepatic progression was significantly lower. The frequency of extrahepatic progression in the treatment groups did not differ. Indicators of long survival in the group of combined chemotherapy were not significantly different from survival in the group of systemic chemotherapy. Conclusions: Despite the fact that regional chemotherapy provides a greater number of positive responses to treatment, adding it to standard systemic chemotherapy did not significantly improves the long survival.