Retarding liver cancer growth in the rat by transient repeated hepatic dearterialization.

The effect of repeated ischemic episodes to experimental liver tumors is studied in a group of inbred Wistar-Furth rats. A vascular occluder model was developed specially for the purpose of delivering intermittent compressions to the hepatic artery in the rat. With five daily 1-hr occlusions of the hepatic artery, rats benefited from significantly reduced tumor growth rates compared with controls that underwent sham operation (P less than 0.05). In contrast to results from previous pig experiments, it is demonstrated by angiographic studies that repeated transient dearterialization does not entirely overcome the problem of collateral vessel formation in the rat. Tumor neovascularization continues irrespective of whether the tumor is being dearterialized. It is also observed that in both normal and tumor rats, collateral channels from the left gastric artery temporarily open up when the hepatic artery is obstructed but disappear on reestablishment of flow. As such types of collateral flow are beyond our control, it is imperative that future developments in vascular occlusion therapy should aim at shortening ischemia time and combining with chemotherapy.