Temporary interruption of regional blood flow combined with local hyperthermia for cancer chemotherapy.

A striking chemotherapeutically curative effect on tumor was obtained by means of temporary interruption of regional blood flow combined with local hyperthermia. By analyzing various basic conditions required for this system using Ehrlich tumor implanted in the hind limbs of mice, the following were found to be essentially indispensable to obtain satisfactory chemotherapeutic effects: (a) a time interval of 1 to 3 min after systemic i.v. administration of drug to the mice, (b) use of a tourniquet on the tumor-bearing mouse limb to stop blood flow, and (c) warming at 37-41 degrees (d) for a period of at least 30 to 60 min. Among the chemotherapeutic drugs tested in the present study, Carbazilquinone (NSC 134679) was the most effective because it revealed the strongest antitumor effect despite its relative innocuousness to nontumorous adjacent normal tissues. Applying the present method, a large syngeneic mouse sarcoma transplanted to the limb 7 days before the experiment also completely regressed in 6 of 9 mice.