PURPOSE:
A prospective phase II trial was conducted to evaluate the
effectiveness and
toxicity of regional
hyperthermia and whole
liver irradiation (WLI) for numerous chemorefractory
liver metastases from
colorectal cancer. MATERIALS AND
METHODS:
Enrolled
patients had numerous chemorefractory hepatic
metastases from
colorectal cancer. Five sessions of
hyperthermia and seven fractions of 3-gray WLI were planned.
Health-related quality of life (
HRQoL) was determined using the Korean version of the European
Organization for
Research and
Treatment of
Cancer quality of life questionnaire C-30 and the Functional Assessment of
Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary version 4.0. Objective and
pain response was evaluated.
RESULTS:
A total of 12
patients consented to the study and the 10
who received WLI and
hyperthermia were analyzed. WLI was completed as planned in nine
patients and
hyperthermia in eight.
Pain response was partial in four
patients and stable in four. Partial objective response was achieved in three
patients (30.0%) and stable
disease was seen in four
patients at the 1-month follow-up. One
patient died 1 month
after treatment because of
respiratory failure related to pleural
metastasis progression. Other grade III or higher toxicities were detected in three
patients; however, all severe toxicities were related to
disease progression rather than
treatment. No significant difference in
HRQoL was noted at the
time of assessment for
patients who were available for
questionnaires.
CONCLUSION:
Combined WLI and
hyperthermia were well tolerated without severe
treatment-related
toxicity with a promising response from numerous chemorefractory hepatic
metastases from
colorectal cancer.