EFFECT OF HEPATIC-ARTERY CHEMOTHERAPY ON SURVIVAL OF PATIENTS WITH HEPATIC METASTASES FROM COLORECTAL-CARCINOMA TREATED WITH CRYOTHERAPY

Thirty-eight patients with unresectable multiple liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma were treated with either hepatic artery chemothe rapy (HAC) and cryotherapy (n = 27) or cryotherapy alone (n = 11). Fol low-up survival data were summarized using Cox regression. Allowing fo r the effect of the pathology of the primary tumor and the preoperativ e carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level, those patients who did not rec eive HAC after cytoreduction were three times as likely to die as thos e given HAC (RR 3.3, 95%; CI 1.2-9.3). The estimated median survival o f patients treated with cryotherapy alone was 245 days, whereas for th ose given more than 3 months of HAC plus cytoreduction therapy it was 570 days. It is recommended that all patients who receive cryotherapy for multiple liver metastases from colorectal rectal carcinoma be give n subsequent hepatic artery chemotherapy.