UNILATERAL PULMONARY-ARTERY OCCLUSION INHIBITS GROWTH OF METASTATIC SARCOMA IN THE RAT LUNG

Tumors depend on their blood supply for growth. The blood supply to me tastatic neoplasia of lung is usually from the pulmonary circulation o r both the pulmonary and systemic circulation. The antineoplastic effe ct of pulmonary artery occlusion was investigated in a rat model of me thylcholanthrene-induced metastatic pulmonary sarcoma. Left pulmonary artery ligation was performed on day 7 after tumor inoculation, and an imals were sacrificed on day 14. The tumor burden of the left lung dec reased 44% when compared with the control group. The survival of non-t umor-bearing rats undergoing left pulmonary artery ligation for 24 hou rs followed by right pneumonectomy after 2 weeks was also studied. No significant lung damage after a period of left pulmonary artery ligati on was seen, as evidenced by both survival after contralateral right p neumonectomy and histology. Balloon occlusion of pulmonary artery, tog ether with regional chemotherapy for patients with lung metastases, ma y warrant investigation. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.