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Background: The hypothesis was tested that systemic chemotherapy might contribute to improving overall survival (OS) of patients with unresectable colorectal liver metastases treated with hepatic arterial infusion (HAI)., Patients and Methods: We considered 153 consecutive patients retrospectively divided into group A (n=72) treated with HAI alone (floxuridine [FUDR] + leucovorin [LV]), and group B (n=81) treated with HAI combined with systemic chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil [5FU] + LV)., Results: No significant difference in OS was observed between the two groups. Median OS was better in patients with <50% of liver involvement (21.3 vs. 13.2 months; p<0.0001) and in responders vs. non-responders (24.4 vs. 13.4 months; p<0.0001). The combination of low tumor load with good tumor response to HAI was the only variable retained on multivariate survival analysis, associated with a better clinical outcome (median OS: 34.2 months)., Conclusion: Our study does not support the use of FUDR-based HAI combined or not with 5FU-based systemic chemotherapy as the first-line therapeutic approach to unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases. The identification of responsive patients would improve the therapeutic index of this HAI regimen.

Background: Since specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) somatic mutations have been demonstrated to influence the response to anti-EGFR therapy in non-small cell lung cancer, EGFR gene mutational analysis of different types of neoplasm is under investigation., Patients and Methods: EGFR protein expression and gene mutations in exons 18, 19 and 21 were investigated in 49 gastric adenocarcinomas., Results: no specific EGFR gene mutations were detected, while EGFR positive staining was detected in 6% of the cases., Conclusion: Our findings indicate that in gastric adenocarcinoma, specific EGFR gene mutations are very rare or absent and the rate of EGFR protein expression is low.