title: Intermittent hepatic arterial or portal occlusion reduces liver tumor growth.
abstract: The effect of repeated, intermittent hepatic vascular occlusion on liver tumor growth was studied in 32 rats. An adenocarcinoma was inoculated in the left liver lobe. After 8 days, the tumor size was measured and then, in three groups, the hepatic artery was occluded intermittently during 5 days for 15 min, 1 hr, or 2 hr daily, respectively. The tumor growth after 6 days in these groups was compared with that in a group where instead the portal vein was occluded intermittently during 5 days for 15 min, and with that in a group of sham-operated control rats. In the control rats, the tumor volume (mean +/- SEM) increased from 0.16 +/- 0.03 to 1.34 +/- 0.15 cm3 during the 6 days of experiment. It was found that repeated, intermittent occlusion of the hepatic artery or the portal vein, retarded the liver tumor growth to 30-60% of the growth rate in sham-operated controls (P less than or equal to 0.015). The 15-min daily hepatic artery or portal vein occlusion was found to reduce the tumor growth rate as much as daily hepatic artery occlusion for 2 hr. It is suggested that short, daily, intermittent hepatic vascular occlusions might be efficient in the palliative treatment of liver malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sjövall
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahrén
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bengmark
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D011920:Rats, Inbred WF