Adjuvant chemotherapy and surgery of esophageal cancer--results of application of a slow-releasing solid bleomycin tube for the enhancement of the effect of radical surgery
Watanabe, H.
Gan to Kagaku Ryoho. Cancer and ChemoTherapy 9(12): 2067-2076
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0385-0684 PMID: 6191692 Document Number: 193807
Surgically scattered cancer cells and micro-metastases of the remained lymph nodes at the time of lymph node dissection are speculated to be a major factor of recurrence. To prevent this type of recurrence, I have devised a slow release solid-form Bleomycin tube through which the drug is given locally and slowly absorbed through the surrounding tissue containing possible minimum residual disease. This tube is placed near the dissected area (upper mediastinum and upper abdomen) of metastatic lymph nodes at the time of surgery. During the period from March 1974 to December 1981 in total 80 cases of cancer of the esophagus received this treatment. As for estimating clinical effect of the method, the prognosis for 67 cases of the intraperitoneal tube group was studied. In the prognosis of stage III, the 3 and 5 year survival rates of this new therapeutic group (n = 33) was 41%, whereas that of control group (n = 38) was 23.7% and 17.3%, which was statistically no significant difference. In the prognosis of stage IV, all of 27 patients of the control group died within 2 years after the operation, while in this new therapeutic group, 11.8% of 36 cases are still alive for 5 years after the operation. Any serious side effects have not been noted so far.