Hepatic artery infusion (HAI) is a treatment for patients with colon or rectal cancer that has spread to the liver and for patients with bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) that can't be removed or has spread into the liver. 当这些肿瘤很多的时候, 不能通过手术切除, or can't be wiped out by standard chemotherapy methods, HAI may effectively treat them by delivering a concentrated chemotherapy agent directly to the liver. 除了, 改善手术患者的预后, we may use HAI as an additional treatment after the procedure or as a bridge to surgery.
To initiate the therapy, a pump the size of a hockey puck is implanted under abdominal skin. The pump gradually releases a chemotherapy drug that is carried by a catheter (a thin, 柔性管)进入肝动脉, the main vessel that supplies blood to tumors in the liver. (A different blood vessel supplies the liver's healthy parts.)
An advantage of HAI is that it's a targeted therapy. Chemotherapy is usually given intravenously (into a vein), which means the dose is diluted through the entire body and only a fraction reaches tumors in the liver. Because the drug's toxicity affects the whole body, we have to limit the dose. HAI将化疗直接泵入肝脏, making it possible to hit the tumors with much higher doses (up to 400 times higher than IV doses). Whatever amount the tumors don't absorb is metabolized by the liver, reducing side effects for other organs and tissues.
HAI may offer hope for patients with few treatment options. 它可以在手术前用于缩小肿瘤, 在手术后杀死残留的癌细胞, or instead of surgery for liver tumors that are too extensive or numerous to be removed. 通过缩小甚至消除肿瘤, 这种疗法可以延长病人的生命, 缓解他们的症状, 在某些情况下, 防止肿瘤复发.
Our gastrointestinal cancer team includes international leaders in the fields of surgical and medical oncology for the liver, 胰腺和胆管. These experts are among the country's most experienced providers of HAI therapy. 事实上, UCSF is the only medical center in Northern California and one of just a few in the West offering this treatment.
