Surgical aspects of intra-arterial chemotherapy of outpatients with head and neck cancer.

We have evaluated the use of the completely implantable infusaid pump in 22 patients with advanced cancer confined to the head and neck. Unilateral head lesions are treated with a single-catheter pump infusing the external carotid artery. A dual-catheter pump is used for midline or bilateral head lesions (both external carotid arteries infused) or unilateral head and neck disease (the second catheter positioned in the thyrocervical trunk). The infused volume of each catheter is determined by nuclear tomography after slow intra-arterial injection of 99mTc-labeled macroaggregated albumin through the pump's auxiliary port. The injection port/infusion chamber configuration of the pump permits long-term, multiple-course, combination-drug intra-arterial therapy on an outpatient basis. To date, 15 patients have been treated longer than 6 months and five longer than 1 year with no bleeding or neurologic complications. Eight of 10 patients treated with cisplatin and fluorodeoxyuridine (FUdR) have responded. The Infusaid pump permits long-term, practical, cost-effective, intra-arterial therapy to the entire tumor volume of ambulatory head and neck cancer patients with a high rate of tumor response.