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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 1999;281:1480.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A minimally invasive procedure that delivers chemotherapy directly to cancerous cells may double survival time for adults with colon cancer that has spread to the liver, according to new findings.

The technique, chemoembolization, uses a catheter inserted through a small needle puncture in the groin to deliver chemotherapy drugs to the hepatic artery leading to the tumor. After three drugs are administered, the hepatic artery is embolized, depriving the tumor of oxygen and nutrients while it is saturated with high doses of medication. Chemoembolization, says Michael C. Soulen, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, "homes in on the cancerous cells that have spread to the liver and avoids exposing the rest of the body to chemotherapy's toxic effects."

In a study Soulen presented last month at a Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology meeting in Orlando, Fla, 51 patients whose colon cancer had metastasized to the . . . [Full Text of this Article]