[Evaluation of the efficacy of bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy for the treatment of central non-small cell lung cancer].

Objective: To evaluate the long-term efficacy of bronchial arterial infusion (BAI) chemotherapy in the treatment of centeral non-small cell lung cancer.

Methods: Fifty-eight patients with central non-small-cell lung cancer, who were assessed as difficult operable or non-operable by imaging examination, received BAI of cisplatin, epirubicin and mitomycin alone or in combination. It includes 51 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, 6 cases of adenocarcinoma and 1 case of adenosquamous carcinoma. The cinical stage before BAI wasIIb in 3 cases, IIIa in 26 cases and IIIb in 29 cases. Long term follow-up was conducted and the results were statistically analyzed.

Results: The total effective rate of BAI was 43.1%. The mediam survival (MS) of all 58 patients was 29.1 months. 31 patients after BAI became operable and were resected, had a median survival of 65.2 months. 27 patients after BAI were not resected and had a MS of 15.9 months. There was a significant difference between the patients who had been resected and not. The MS of IIIa stage patients was 39.0 months, and IIIb stage 20.4 months.

Conclusion: Bronchial arterial infusion chemotherapy is a better choice with a definite efficacy for treatment of center-based NSCLC patients, estimated as difficult operable but without distant metastasis.