[Clinical study of selective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy using trans-radial arterial approach in 4 cases of advanced breast cancer].

We administered neoadjuvant chemotherapy by a selective intra-arterial infusion method using a trans-radial approach in patients with advanced breast cancer (stage III and stage IV). The trans-radial approach uses the arterial flow, based on the Seldinger technique. In this method, the radial artery is cannulated, and epirubucin is infused into the artery that carries blood from the subclavical artery to the breast. We have used this method in 4 cases thus far. Two of the patients received a single intra-arterial infusion of epirubicin. The other 2 patients were catheterized before they received chemotherapy by intra-arterial infusion. This technique decreased the pain or discomfort caused by the catheterizations during chemotherapy in all 4 cases. However, the currently available catheters are not always able to approach the artery flowing into the breast, thus the protocol will need to be refined.