[Comparative clinical study in metastatic liver cancer between intra-arterial infusion of mitomycin C alone and intra-arterial infusion of mitomycin C combined with PJ-203 (degradable starch microspheres)].

In the present comparative study, we examined an intra-arterial chemotherapy combined with PJ-203 in 60 patients with liver cancer metastasized from gastrointestinal cancer, using an intra-arterial chemotherapy alone as the control. Sixty patients who had been registered by telephone contact were allocated to groups either treated with the intra-arterial chemotherapy alone or with PJ-203 combined, 30 patients each. Mitomycin C was used as the anticancer drug and given at the dose of 8mg/m2 per time. The dose of PJ-203 was 600 +/- 300 mg as degradable starch microspheres. A significantly higher response rate (CR + PR/complete cases) of 54.5% (p = 0.021) was noted in the PJ-203 combined group, as compared to 20.0% for the control group. The 50% survival duration was 282 and 214 days for the PJ-203 combined group and control group, respectively, with no significant difference being noted between the two groups. Principal adverse reactions such as pain, gastrointestinal symptoms and fever were statistically more frequent (p < 0.01) in the PJ-203 combined group than in the control group. Among the abnormal laboratory values, the incidence of decreased leukocytes was significantly lower (p = 0.022) in the PJ-203 combined group than in the control group. One of the patients concomitantly treated with PJ-203 died of drug-induced hepatitis, which was probably attributed to mitomycin C. However, overall utility assessment was significantly better (p = 0.002) in the PJ-203 combined group.