Low dose intraarterial cis-platinum/radiotherapy after local tumour preradiation.

The simultaneous use of intraarterial Cis-Platinum and Radiotherapy (CP/RT) was found to be a very effective and relatively little burdened treatment for a palliative treatment concept. This affects life quality as well as the remission--and survival times. The fast and continual remission with low CP/RT concentrations, even in extreme palliative cases, is surprising. CP/RT treatment shows additive and synergistic effects which are not explainable by the single effects of the cis-platinum dose used (60 mg/1.73 m2 in our case) or the total irradiation dose (e.g., 5 Gy TD) or the fractionation (e.g., 5 X 1 Gy), especially since the doses of each which were used are by themselves without therapeutic relevance. Only the combination of the modalities with a low dose two-day preradiation program induced the described effects.

[Regional transfemoral intra-arterial chemotherapy using selective catheter placement. Method and clinical results]. / Regionale transfemorale intraarterielle Chemotherapie mittels selektiver Katheterplazierung. Methode und klinische Ergebnisse.

In a retrospective study on 108 arterial transfemoral perfusion treatments with cytostatic drugs, the authors describe the procedure and the response of patients shown by tumor markers, computed tomography, histologic findings, and subjective assessment by the patients. Then follows a critical discussion of the complication rate of a therapy which has proved since 1980 to be a valuable and effective treatment method. The objective remission rate was 67%, and a subjective response was observed in 75% of all cases. Compared to systemic chemotherapy, the tolerance was clearly better. Only in one case we found an arterial embolism which was treated by conservative measures. Intraarterial perfusion of cytostatic drugs is within the scope of palliative measures a very effective and, above all, relatively non-stressful treatment with regard to quality of life and survival time. This interventional therapy method should be offered by the radiologist to the clinical oncologist.

[Local application of mitoxantrone in inoperable, stenosing esophageal carcinoma. Preliminary report]. / Lokale Applikation von Mitoxantron beim inoperablen, stenosierenden Oesophaguskarzinom. Vorläufige Mitteilung.

Two cases histories demonstrate the efficacy of mitoxantrone, a cytotoxic substance, after local application in inoperable, recurrent esophageal carcinoma. The drug is well tolerated. Local or systemic side-effects have not been observed so far. Up to 20 mg of mitoxantrone were administered at multiple sites into the tumor mass via the esophageal sclerosing system. So far the technique has been applied in 5 cases, and in each one we observed a transitory subjective and objective response.