Convenient selective intra-arterial continuous infusion chemotherapy via the superior thyroid artery for oral cancer

Objective

We designed a convenient method of selective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy to treat oral cancer with low-dose 5-fluorouracil.

Patients and methods

Twenty-seven primary cases treated with this method with concomitant external irradiation. The reasons for performing selective continuous intra-arterial infusion were severe systemic disease in four cases, advanced age in seven cases, unresectability in nine cases, preoperative chemotherapy in five cases, and two patients refused surgery.

Results

The overall treatment effects were as follows: complete response in 13 cases, partial response in 12 cases, and no change in two cases. None of the patients experienced disease progression while receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Twenty-three toxic adverse events ranging from grades 1 to 4 developed in 25 patients. A grade 1 complication developed in six patients; oral and/or pharyngeal mucositis developed frequently in 12 patients. Hematologic adverse events such as leukocytopenia or thrombocytopenia were observed in five patients, but no grade 3 or 4 events developed in any patients.

Conclusions

These data indicated that our method is suitable for patients who cannot undergo surgery or systemic chemotherapy due to old age or severe systemic disease.