Tumoricidal effects and patient survival after hyperthermic liver perfusion.

Hyperthermic liver perfusion for four hours at 42.0 degrees C to 42.5 degrees C was used as the sole modality of therapy for cancer confined to the liver in eight patients. Two patients had melanoma, one had cholangiolar carcinoma of the liver, and five had liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma. Two postoperative deaths occurred, both in patients with colorectal carcinoma metastases. Response was indicated by computed tomographic and/or liver biopsy or autopsy findings of tumor necrosis. There were five responders to hyperthermic liver perfusion among the six survivors. Hyperthermic liver perfusion was an effective tumoricidal agent for hepatic metastases from colorectal cancer; ie, tumor necrosis occurred in all five patients, as well as in the two who died, as shown by autopsy findings. Conversion to a disease-free state with hyperthermic perfusion may be possible with other treatment modalities used in combination or sequence.