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Article: Hepatic Arterial Infusion
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of Cancer
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Hepatic arterial infusion
Definition
Hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) therapy, delivers chemotherapeutic agents directly to the liver through a catheter placed in the hepatic artery. The hepatic artery is the main route of blood supply to liver tumors. HAI is also known as regional
chemotherapy
.
Purpose
Approximately 160, 000 patients are diagnosed with
colon cancer
in the U.S. each year. The cancer spreads to the liver in about 70 percent of those patients. For patients with colorectal liver metastases, tumor progression within the liver is typically the primary cause of death.
Systemic chemotherapy using various agents has some efficacy, but the side effects can have a profound ...