Intra-Arterial Infusion for Head and Neck Cancer

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Abstract
Since Klopp, in 1950,7 first injected the cancer chemotherapeutic drug, mechlorethamine hydrochloride (nitrogen mustard), into the arterial supply of a tumor, surgeons have been interested in this method of testing new drugs. Although the search for a compound which is lethal to cancer cells without disturbing the patient or his normal cells has been continuous, this utopain objective is still unachieved. The drugs made available, however, have been tested clinically by regional infusion and perfusion, as well as systemically, in an attempt to discover the most effective, yet safest dosage and method of administration for a specific type of tumor. Regional perfusion with the use of the pump oxygenator closed circuit technique was instituted in the M. D. Anderson Hospital10 in 1957, and as of October, 1963, a total of 391 perfusions had been performed on 296 patients.11 Early in our experience, it was found that certain