Angiography for diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer

AIM:To evaluate the role of preoperative angiography inthe diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer.METHODS:The authors performed selective arterialcannulation by Seldinger’s method in 47 patients to locatethe primary cancer and to diagnose metastasis to the liver.Each patient was then given intra-arterial regionalchemotherapy,and received 5-fluorouracil(5-Fu,1 000 mg),mitomycin C(MMC,20 mg),and cisplatinum(CDDP,80 mg).RESULTS:The location and shape of each tumor wereobserved,including metastatic tumors in the liver,in 42 ofthe 47(89.4 %)patients.The site of the primary tumor wasdifficult to identify in 5 cases because the patients had arecurrence of cancer.Arterial chemotherapy was performedsuccessfully in all patients.The authors recorded no partialor significant morbidity resulted from angiography.The onlyincident was bleeding from the artery puncture site in onepatient,which was successfully stopped by generalmedication.CONCLUSION:Preoperative selective arterial angiographycan help the diagnosis and locate primary tumors and todetect liver metastasis.At the same time,regional arterialchemotherapy can be an important form of preoperativetherapy.