DIFFERENTIAL DEVICE PERFORMANCES FOR HEPATIC ARTERIAL CHEMOTHERAPY - A TECHNICAL REPORT ON TOTALLY IMPLANTABLE PUMPS AND PORTS FOR BOTH CONTINUOUS AND BOLUS INFUSION

Performances of totally implantable infusion systems were analyzed in patients with colorectal liver metastases undergoing intra-arterial tr eatment. It consisted of 14-day continuous infusion of 5-fluor-2'deoxy uridine with pumps (pump14, 44 patients) or ports fed by external pump s (port14, 34 patients), or bolus infusion of cisplatin (port21, 57 pa tients) or epirubicin (port7, 22 patients) every 3rd week and weekly, respectively. Toxicity and disease progression were the most common ca uses of treatment interruption. System failure occurred in 2 pump14, 9 port14, 6 port21 and 2 port7 cases. Pocket problems were most frequen t in the pump14 group (30%), whereas catheter- and infusion-related pr oblems were mostly observed in the port14 group (109%). The devices we re still functional after 12 months in 92% of pump14, 24% of port14, 6 5% of port21 and in 78% of port7 patients. Although implantable ports allow adequate infusion periods, in most cases they appear especially suitable for bolus infusions.