[Balloon occluded arterial infusion with direct hemoperfusion in recurrent cancers of the head and neck].

Balloon-occluded arterial infusion with direct hemoperfusion has been performed for head and neck cancers with sufficiently good results. The balloon catheter used can temporally occlude the artery which is feeding a tumor during intra-arterial infusion of anticancer drugs. Direct hemoperfusion with a charcoal filament is used for reducing the systemic side effects of the drugs recirculating from the regional area. Three patients with recurrent cancers of the head and neck were treated with this procedure. Two complete responses and one partial response were obtained.