A case of postoperative pelvic metastasis and multiple liver metastases of the rectal cancer successfully treated by arterial infusion therapy with 5-FU/leucovorin

A 55-year-old man underwent a rectal amputation for rectal cancer in 1994. As the tumor marker was elevated in 2002, we performed an abdominal CT scan and detected local and multiple liver recurrences. We treated the patient with intra-arterial infusion of 5-FU/LV via the internal iliac artery and the hepatic artery. The chemotherapy was performed on a weekly basis; it consisted of 5-FU (500 mg/body), administered for 5 hours to bilateral reservoirs through an infusion pump and l-leucovorin (400 mg/body), administered intravenously for 2 hours. After 18 administrations of this regimen during a hospital stay and after a discharge from the hospital as an outpatient, the multiple liver metastases that were observed have disappeared. Further, the local recurrences showed a partial reduction in tumor size with a decrease in perineal pain. Subsequently, the patient did not require further doses of morphine. He exhibited no severe side effects except for grade 1 nausea, and his QOL was also good. Therefore, local intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy with 5-FU/LV appears to have been effective for rectal cancer recurrences.