COMPARISON BY CARCINOEMBRYONIC ANTIGEN DOUBLING TIME OF HEPATIC INJECTION AND INFUSION FOR UNRESECTABLE HEPATIC METASTASIS FROM COLORECTAL-CANCER

This study explored the efficacy of hepatic arterial therapy, comparin g both injection and infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in prolonging t he survival of 92 patients with recurrent unresectable hepatic metasta sis from colorectal cancer. With respect to pretreatment carcinoembryo nic antigen doubling time (CEA-DT), 56 patients were treated with intr aarterial injection, and 36 with intra-arterial infusion. In 21 patien ts with a CEA-DT of less than 40 days, the cumulative survival of pati ents treated with arterial injection was significantly longer than tha t of patients treated with arterial infusion. In 45 patients with a CE A-DT of 40-80 days, the survival curves of patients did not differ fro m each other. Of the remaining 26 patients with a CEA-DT of more than 80 days, those treated using arterial infusion had an excellent progno sis, in contrast to those treated using arterial injection, with stati stical significance. CEA-DT may be useful when choosing a chemotherapy regimen, and may help to accurately establish the prognosis of patien ts with unresectable hepatic metastasis from colorectal cancer.