Multicenter pilot study administering 5-fluorouracil, folinic acid, interferon alpha–2b and degradable starch microspheres via hepatic arterial infusion in patients with nonresect…

Background: Patients with an advanced colorectal tumor have a poor prognosis. Thus, it is necessary to establish therapeutic regimens for patients with nonresectable hepatic metastases. A new regional chemotherapy regimen was tested in a prospective study in three centers. Patients and methods: An arterial port system was implanted in 95 patients with nonresectable liver metastases of a colorectal carcinoma. From January 1994 to March 1999, intra-arterial treatment was applied via the hepatic artery using 450mg starch microspheres with 5 million IU recombinant interferon-a 2B, 500mg/m2 folinic acid and 600mg/m2…