ABSTRACT
Fourteen patients who had liver metastases from breast cancer were treated with trans-arterial chemo-embolization (TACE) or intra-arterial chemotherapy via percutaneously inserted catheters. The patients were divided into two groups: Group A: Long-term survivors who lived longer than three years; and Group B: Short-term survivors who died within three years. Then we compared them based on the background factors, efficacy of intra-arterial chemotherapy, and so on. There was a tendency that Group A had a longer disease-free interval and took more time to formulate liver metastases than that of Group B. All of the four patients of Group A are alive, and the longest survivor is living six years and four months after being diagnosed with liver metastases. In Group B, every patient died from liver failure, but one had died from respiratory failure. The objective response rate was 38.5%, and four of the five responders were long-term survivors. Therefore, it is possible that a good prognosis can be obtained when the hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy effectively controls liver metastases that regulate life.
