Hepatic arterial infusion of high-dose 5-FU to liver metastases--case reports of 6 patients with abnormal laboratory data on liver function

Six patients with metastatic liver cancer (H3) and abnormal laboratory data for liver function underwent intra-hepatic arterial infusion (H.A.I.) therapy of high dose 5-FU (1 g/body/day, 6 days/week, 1q for 2 patients, 2q for 4 patients, with at least a one week interval). No serious side effects were observed in any case. Even in 2 cases with suspicious partial obstruction of the portal vein, no remarkable change in liver function was observed after high dose 5-FU H.A.I. therapy. Four patients who received 12 g of 5-FU showed a reduction in the abnormal data after a short transient rise in some cases. In 2 cases the reduction rate was high and the laboratory data were normalized in 3 months. A long PR was obtained in these cases. The other 2 cases, on the other hand, showed a low reduction rate and the liver function relapsed in a week. Tumor markers also returned to previous levels in a short period. These findings together imply that the reduction rate of abnormal liver function data might predict the efficacy of high dose 5-FU H.A.I. therapy.