Anticancer effects of local administration of mitomycin C via the hepatic artery or portal vein on implantation and growth of VX2 cancer injected into rabbit liver.

Rabbits were inoculated with a suspension of VX2 carcinoma cells in the liver, and mitomycin C was given via the hepatic artery or the portal vein for a study of the anticancer effects. Twenty-eight rabbits were killed for preliminary study at 1 h or 1, 3, 7, 9, 12, or 14 days after the inoculation. Another 36 rabbits were divided into three groups. Groups A and B were given the agent (0.5 mg/kg), 1 h after the inoculation and on Days 2, 4, 6, and 8, into the common hepatic artery or the splenic vein, respectively. Group C was not treated after inoculation. The mean numbers of cancer nodules per rabbit in Groups A, B, and C were 11.9, 36.4, and 83.4, respectively, at 12 days after inoculation. The number of cancer nodules of Group A was smallest (P less than 0.025, F test). The means of the total cross-sectional area of tumor nodules in Groups A, B, and C were 32.7, 79.7, and 217.3 mm2, respectively. The total cross-sectional area of the cancer nodules of Group A was smallest (P less than 0.05, F test). These results suggest that the anticancer agents given via the hepatic artery had better effects on early (small) metastatic liver tumor than those via the portal vein.