Results of liver dearterialization combined with regional infusion of 5-fluorouracil for liver cancer.

40 patients with primary or metastatic liver malignancies have been treated with hepatic dearterialization, 19 of them in combination with regional infusion with 5-fluoroacil. The survival was longer than expected from untreated materials. This was especially shown to be valid for patients with primary liver cancer and liver metastases from cancer coli-recti, in which the prolongation of survival was associated with an acceptable quality of life. The long term results were correlated with the "aggressiveness" in therapeutic approach. Only studies of prospective randomized series can settle whether the results depend on the specific measures against the liver tumours or on the general treatment.