Background: We studied stagnation of the blood in hepatic metastatic lesions of colorectal cancer.
Methods: Twenty-two hepatic tumors in 11 patients with liver metastases of colorectal cancers were investigated in this study. With a catheter inserted into the roots of the proper hepatic artery, 5 to 10 mCi 133Xe was injected. The half-time (t1/2) was calculated for the tumor region based on the washout curve by the compartmental method and expressed as the intratumor retention time of the blood.
Results: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization with iodized oil (Lipiodol) and cisplatin was effective in eight (50%) of 16 tumors that were hypervascular but in only one (17%) of six tumors that were hypovascular (p < 0.05). Regardless of the hypervascular tumor, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization was not effective in tumors that had shown a t1/2 of less than 80 seconds. Seven of eight good-responding lesions that were hypervascular and had a long t1/2 (187 +/- 74.6 seconds) revealed characteristic fireworks-shaped accumulation of Lipiodol.
Conclusions: Transarterial infusion chemotherapy for liver metastasis of colorectal cancer was considered effective for hypervascular hepatic tumors with a long t1/2.