Long-term survivors of colorectal cancer with unresectable hepatic metastases.

Five patients with colorectal cancer and unresectable synchronous liver metastases have survived for over five years at this writing. Four of the five had multiple metastases over both lobes, as diagnosed preoperatively, and the other had multiple metastases in the right lobe not evident preoperatively. The primary foci were excised completely in four patients. For one patient with multiple metastases limited to the right lobe, the postoperative cancer chemotherapy prescribed was intravenous mitomycin C (MMC; 12 mg) and oral ftorafur (a derivative of 5-FU) for a total dose of 291 gm over 63 weeks. The remaining four patients underwent postoperative intra-arterial infusion therapy with the average total dose of 20.5 mg of MMC plus 5600 mg of 5-FU; subsequently, they received protracted chemotherapy with oral ftorafur of 354 gm as an average, with little or no side effects. In these four patients, duration of intra-arterial treatment was an average of 3.2 weeks, and the subsequent oral treatment continued for an average of 85 weeks. Recent hepatic echography and CEA determinations show these patients to be free from intrahepatic metastasis.