HISTOLOGICAL-EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTS OF INTRAARTERIAL CHEMOTHERAPY FOR ADVANCED BREAST-CANCER - A LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP-STUDY WITH RESPECT TO THE SURVIVAL RATE

To evaluate the effects of intraarterial infusion chemotherapy (IAIC) for advanced breast cancer, we examined the grade of histological resp onses of preoperative IAIC on tumors at the time of operation and esti mated the patients' prognoses for 19 gears. IAIC was done preoperative ly using timely epochal anticancer drugs on 105 patients with locally advanced (Stage IIIa, IIIb) and metastatic (Stage IV) breast cancer. T he survival rate of the Stage IIIb patients who showed a good histolog ical response (Grade IIb less than or equal to) to IAIC was 68.1% for 5 years, and 62.4% for 10 Sears, respectively. This was in contrast to that of the patients classified as Stage IIIb who showed a poor histo logical response (Grade IIa greater than or equal to) to IAIC, On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the survival rates between the Stage IIIa and IV patients with good and poor histological responses to IAIC, However, the findings showed that a good histologi cal response to IAIC reflected a prolonged survival while the Stage II Ib and IV patients acquired a ''down clinical staging'' by IAIC, These results strongly suggest that IAIC thus appears to be a useful modali ty in the multidisciplinary treatment of advanced breast cancer, espec ially for Stage IIIb patients.