Arterial chemoembolization with mitomycin C microcapsules in the treatment of primary or secondary carcinoma of the kidney, liver, bone and intrapelvic organs.

Selective intraarterial infusion of the ethylcellulose microcapsules of mitomycin C (MMC-mc) exerts its potential therapeutic effects through both infarction and prolonged local, drug activity, i.e., chemoembolization. Twenty patients with intractable primary, recurrent or metastatic carcinoma were treated with single or fractionated infusion of MMC-mc via percutaneous arterial catheterization. The target sites were the kidney, liver, prostate, urinary bladder, uterus, sigmoid colon, Douglas' pouch and bone. Fourteen patients had over 30% reduction in measurable maximum tumor diameter, 5 had 10 to 30% reduction and 1 showed less than 10% reduction, but concurrent 2 bone lesions had no reduction. Improvement of symptoms and signs such as pain, massive hemorrhage, dysuria, anorexia and hydronephrosis was observed at an early stage of the treatment in all patients. Eight patients with highly invasive carcinoma of the kidney, urinary bladder and cervix were initially treated with MMC-mc followed by successful radical operation. Systemic toxicity was mild and all patients tolerated the treatment. Although the follow-up periods are less than 21 months, 12 patients are alive with or without tumor and 11 of them are doing well. The present results indicate that chemoembolization with MMC-mc is effective as a preoperative or palliative measure in the treatment of invasive carcinoma of various organs.