Hepatic Perfusion: High-Dose Chemotherapy, Few Ill Effects

Whether cancer originates in the colon, breast, or elsewhere in the body, the liver is one of the most common places to which a malignancy will spread. When this occurs, if it's possible to control the metastasis in the liver, we may have a much better shot at holding the original tumor at bay. A technique called hepatic perfusion may help us do this. For more on hepatic perfusion and its potential role in the chemotherapeutic process, host Dr. Mark Nolan Hill talks with Dr. H. Richard Alexander, associate chairman for clinical research in the department of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. How might this technique, which affords us the opportunity to deliver high-dose therapy while circumventing most side effects, begin to change our perspective on the limitations of chemotherapeutics?