Role of scintigraphy in establishing optimal perfusion in hepatic arterial infusion pump chemotherapy.

Since 1982, physicians at the Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, have performed 41 hepatic intraarterial chemotherapy infusion pump implantations for palliative treatment of metastatic liver disease from various primary tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. Radionuclide hepatic arterial pump imaging has proven to be a very reliable, cost-effective, and uncomplicated method of evaluating liver perfusion as it relates to pump function, catheter integrity, and positioning. Confirmation of satisfactory hepatic perfusion is the key to acceptable treatment by this modality. In combination with periodic computed tomography (CT) scanning and CEA determinations, scintigraphy plays a major role in establishing effective therapy and aids in determining causal factors behind treatment failures.