Targeting Liver Extends Metastatic Colon Cancer Survival

THURSDAY, March 2 (HealthDay News) -- Delivering chemotherapy directly to the liver improves the survival and quality of life for patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to that organ, a new U.S. study finds.

The study included 135 patients who received either traditional intravenous systemic chemotherapy or hepatic arterial infusion (HAI), which uses a pump in the abdomen to deliver chemotherapy directly to the liver.

All the patients had surgical removal of primary tumors in the colon or rectum before they received chemotherapy.

As reported online this week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the researchers found that patients who received HAI had a median survival time of 24 months, compared to 20 months for patients who received systemic chemotherapy. Patients who received HAI also had better treatment response rates (47 percent vs. 24 percent), and a longer time to disease progression in the liver (9.8 months vs. 7.3 months).

Patients treated with HAI did not experience the usual chemotherapy-related side effects such as diarrhea, hair loss, and decreased white blood cell count, the researchers added.

"This study demonstrates that hepatic arterial infusion therapy extends survival and improves quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver," study lead author Dr. Nancy E. Kemeny, attending physician in the department of medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said in a prepared statement.

"These positive findings are particularly important, given that metastasis to the liver occurs in 60 percent of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, and most patients with these liver tumors eventually die of their disease," Kemeny said.