Superselective bronchial artery chemoembolization in the treatment of lung cancer

Objective To investigate the safety and the effect of superselective bronchial artery chemoembolization in the treatment of lung cancer. Methods Three hundred and twenty-nine cases of lung cancer diagnosed by pathology and treated with simply bronchial artery infusion or superselective bronchial artery chemoembolization were investigated. (1) Simply bronchial artery infusion (n=221): 40-60 mg Cisplatin or 200-300 mg Carboplatin combined with 10-20 mg Mitomycin-C or 100-200 mg Etoposide were infused through the catheter which was placed in the bronchial artery trunk or intercostal-bronchial artery trunk after angiography, re-infusion was performed at 2-4 weeks intervals, 549 times of infusion were performed in 221 cases. (2) Superselective bronchial artery chemoembolization (n=108): microcatheter was superselectively inserted into the distal of feeding artery guided with road-map after selective angiography, then anticarcinogen (same as simply bronchial artery infusion) and embolic material were infused through microcatheter. 30-50 Gelfoam particles and/or 3-8 ml Lipiodol was used as embolic material. Chemoembolization was reperformed at 6-9 weeks intervals, 266 times of chemoembolization were done in 108 cases. Results No severe complications such as spinal injury were found. 28 cases in 221 cases performed with simply bronchial infusion got complete response(CR), meanwhile, partial response(PR)in 79 cases, stable(S) in 88 cases, and processes(P) in 26 cases. The effective rate(CR+PR)was 48.4%, survival rate of 1 year and 2 years were 53.8% and 44.8%, respectively. In the 108 cases performed with superselective bronchial artery chemoembolization, there were 16 cases of CR, 53 cases of PR, 32 cases of S, and 7 cases of P. The effective rate(CR+PR)was 63.9%, survival rate of 1 year and 2 years were 77.8% and 65.7%, respectively. There were significant statistic differences in the effective rate and survival rate of 1 year and 2 years between the two method(P0.01). Conclusion Superselective bronchial artery chemoembolization is effective and safe for lung cancer. Its effect is better than that of simply bronchial artery infusion.