Percutaneous hepatic arterial infusion of cisplatin-vinblastine for refractory breast carcinoma metastatic to the liver.

We treated 34 patients with breast carcinoma metastatic to the liver and refractory to prior chemotherapy with sequential hepatic arterial infusion of cisplatin and vinblastine in an attempt to enhance their antitumor activity. Following the administration of cisplatin at 100 mg/m2 i.v., the patients received a continuous arterial infusion of vinblastine at 1.7 mg/m2 daily for 5 consecutive days. Of 33 patients evaluable for response, eleven (33%) achieved partial responses and eight (24%) had minor responses. Median time to progression for responding patients was 31 weeks (range, 6+ to 74), and median survival was 11 months (range, 5-19). The adverse effects of the regimen were considerable, and seven failures were related to treatment intolerance or major toxicity. One patient who received vinblastine 2.0 mg/m2 daily developed a transient inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone. Percutaneous hepatic arterial infusion of cisplatin and vinblastine has significant activity in the treatment of breast cancer metastatic to the liver, but subjective and objective treatment intolerance hamper the therapeutic value.