Abstract
Intra-arterial therapies have high antitumor activity for both primary and secondary
hepatic malignancies. Selective infusions allow increased delivery of cytoreductive
therapy to the tumor bed while sparing the normal hepatic parenchyma. These therapies
are now often applied in the outpatient setting or with short overnight hospital stays
and have a growing role in the treatment of liver-dominant disease from metastatic
colorectal cancer and from neuroendocrine tumors. Less commonly, intra-arterial therapies
are applied to treat secondary hepatic malignancies from breast cancer, melanoma,
pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and soft-tissue sarcomas. The available data are limited
and generally retrospective observational cohort series of single institutions. The
purpose of this article is to summarize the recent literature on outcomes for intra-arterial
therapy in nonsurgical patients. Multi-institutional registries and prospective data
are greatly needed, as intra-arterial therapies are increasingly applied in these
patients to stop progression of chemorefractory tumors.
Keywords
hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy - chemoembolization - radioembolization - liver
metastases - interventional radiology
