The influence of cytoreductive surgery on the response to chemotherapy of a rat renal cancer.

The potential ability of cytoreductive surgery to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy (vindesine) was tested utilizing male Wistar Lewis rats transplanted simultaneously with intraperitoneal and flank implants of a spontaneously arising renal adenocarcinoma. Cytoreduction was accomplished in some animals by removing the flank tumor 5-7 weeks following implantation; all animals received vindesine (IP injection of 0.5 mg/kg on two successive weeks). While vindesine reduced tumor growth, in no case did the addition of cytoreductive surgery enhance the effect of chemotherapy. The addition of cytoreductive surgery to marginally effective chemotherapy was found to be ineffective or even detrimental.