Results of palliative thermochemotherapy for colorectal cancer metastases to the liver
The purpose of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of thermochemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer metastases to the liver in palliative mode. Loco-regional hyperthermia in combination with chemotherapy was applied to 33 patients. The comparison group was of 40 patients who underwent only chemotherapy. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or capecitabine over standard regimens were used for chemotherapy in both groups. Loco-regional hyperthermia was carried out by capacitive method for 40-90 minutes at a maximum temperature within 41-44 ° C in tumor. No significant differences in dynamics of the overall status, clinical symptoms of the disease and biochemical parameters between the groups were revealed. In the group of patients with thermochemotherapy there were received a complete response in 3 patients (9%), partial response - in 14 patients (44%) while in the group of patients with chemotherapy - in 1 patient (3%) and 11 patients (28%), respectively. The significant difference was found in terms of objective response, i.e. summarized parameters of complete and partial regression (p=0.04). Thermochemotherapy compared with chemotherapy significantly increased survival rates of patients.