SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Colorectal cancer often spreads to the liver, requiring prolonged chemotherapy. But now, doctors are turning to hepatic artery infusion. This therapy delivers chemo directly into the liver, and that increases the survival rate by up to 40 percent. Colon Cancer
“There’s a catheter that comes out from here and then goes directly into the liver,” says Colin Court, MD, PhD, in Surgical Oncology at UT Health San Antonio.
This hepatic infusion pump is a game changer, sending chemo directly to liver tumors caused by colorectal cancer.
Dr. Court adds, “Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, so stage 4 colorectal cancer that’s spread to the liver, up to 40 percent of them can be cured.”
Nick Kincaid, an urban planner and new dad, was diagnosed at 37 and placed on traditional chemo by his physician.
“Definitely getting that initial diagnosis was very shocking,” Nick says.
He stopped working, began regular chemo and fatigue took over his life.
“It really does just change everything, even down to — ‘Am I even able to walk my dog?’,” Nick adds.
Faced with a lifetime of chemo, Nick is fortunate enough to work with Dr. Court, who shifted his treatment to HAI pump therapy.
Dr. Court explains, “We place this into a small artery that comes off the hepatic artery that is the main blood supply to the liver and it continuously infuses chemotherapy into that hepatic artery.”
And provides 400 times the dosage, while causing minimal side effects.
Nick expresses, “Having a doctor sort of look at it a bit differently and a see a pathway to a cure, and see other options for me was very powerful.”
This FDA-approved device remains in place for the length of the treatment, and the HAI pump is not available everywhere, so be sure to ask your doctor.
Contributors to this news report include: Donna Parker, Producer; Bruce Maniscalco, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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