Portal Vein Chemotherapy in Colorectal Cancer
Portal vein infusion of 5-fluorouracil may produce an absolute improvement in 5-year survival of around 5%. Level of evidence: "C"A systematic review 1 included 10 RCTs with a total of 3,499 subjects. Reduction in the annual odds or death was 13.6% (p=0.006), showing cytotoxic 5-fluorouracil-based portal vein infusion to be more effective than no further treatment after surgery. An absolute improvent in survival was 4.7%.
References
- Portal vein chemotherapy for colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis of 4000 patients in 10 studies. Liver Infusion Meta-analysis Group. J Natl Cancer Inst 1997 Apr 2;89(7):497-505. [PubMed]