Bolus vs. continuous hepatic arterial infusion of cisplatin plus intravenous 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy for unresectable colorectal metastases

Targeting vascular inflammation through emerging methods and drug carriers

Acute inflammation is a common dangerous component of pathogenesis of many prevalent conditions with high morbidity and mortality including sepsis, thrombosis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), COVID-19, myocardial and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion, infection, and trauma. Inflammatory changes of the vasculature and blood mediate the course and outcome of the pathology in the tissue site of insult, remote organs and systemically. Endothelial cells lining the luminal surface of the vasculature play the key regulatory functions in the body, distinct under normal vs. pathological conditions. In theory, pharmacological interventions in the endothelial cells might enable therapeutic correction of the overzealous damaging pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic changes in the vasculature. However, current agents and drug delivery systems (DDS) have inadequate pharmacokinetics and lack the spatiotemporal precision of vascular delivery in the context of acute inflammation. To attain this level of precision, many groups design DDS targeted to specific endothelial surface determinants. These DDS are able to provide specificity for desired tissues, organs, cells, and sub-cellular compartments needed for a particular intervention. We provide a brief overview of endothelial determinants, design of DDS targeted to these molecules, their performance in experimental models with focus on animal studies and appraisal of emerging new approaches. Particular attention is paid to challenges and perspectives of targeted therapeutics and nanomedicine for advanced management of acute inflammation.

Cryotherapy for liver metastases

BACKGROUND

The liver is affected by two of the most common groups of malignant tumours: primary liver tumours and liver metastases from colorectal carcinoma. Liver metastases are significantly more common than primary liver cancer and long-term survival rates reported for patients after radical surgical treatment is approximately 50%. However, R0 resection (resection for cure) is not feasible in the majority of patients. Cryotherapy is performed with the use of an image-guided cryoprobe which delivers liquid nitrogen or argon gas to the tumour tissue. The subsequent process of freezing is associated with formation of ice crystals, which directly damage exposed tissue, including cancer cells.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the beneficial and harmful effects of cryotherapy compared with no intervention, other ablation methods, or systemic treatments in people with liver metastases.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched The Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group Controlled Trials Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE Ovid, Embase Ovid, and six other databases up to June 2018.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Randomised clinical trials assessing beneficial and harmful effects of cryotherapy and its comparators for liver metastases, irrespective of the location of the primary tumour.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. We extracted information on participant characteristics, interventions, study outcomes, and data on the outcomes important for our review, as well as information on the design and methodology of the trials. Two review authors independently assessed risk of bias in each study. One review author performed data extraction and a second review author checked entries.

MAIN RESULTS

We found no randomised clinical trials comparing cryotherapy versus no intervention or versus systemic treatments; however, we identified one randomised clinical trial comparing cryotherapy with conventional surgery. The trial was conducted in Ukraine. The trial included 123 participants with solitary, or multiple unilobar or bilobar liver metastases; 63 participants received cryotherapy and 60 received conventional surgery. There were 36 women and 87 men. The primary sites for the metastases were colon and rectum (66.6%), stomach (7.3%), breast (6.5%), skin (4.9%), ovaries (4.1%), uterus (3.3%), kidney (3.3%), intestines (1.6%), pancreas (1.6%), and unknown (0.8%). The trial was not reported sufficiently enough to assess the risk of bias of the randomisation process, allocation concealment, or presence of blinding. It was also not possible to assess incomplete outcome data and selective outcome reporting bias. The certainty of evidence was low because of risk of bias and imprecision.The participants were followed for up to 10 years (minimum five months). The trial reported that the mortality at 10 years was 81% (51/63) in the cryotherapy group and 92% (55/60) in the conventional surgery group. The calculated by us relative risk (RR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was: RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.77 to 1.02. We judged the evidence as low-certainty evidence. Regarding adverse events and complications, separately and in total, our calculation showed no evidence of a difference in recurrence of the malignancy in the liver: 86% (54/63) of the participants in the cryotherapy group and 95% (57/60) of the participants in the conventional surgery group developed a new malignancy (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.01; low-certainty evidence). The frequency of reported complications was similar between the cryotherapy group and the conventional surgery group, except for postoperative pain. Both insignificant and pronounced pain were reported to be more common in the cryotherapy group while intense pain was reported to be more common in the conventional surgery group. However, the authors did not report whether there was any evidence of a difference. There were no intervention-related mortality or bile leakages.We identified no evidence for health-related quality of life, cancer mortality, or time to progression of liver metastases. The study reported tumour response in terms of the carcinoembryonic antigen level in 69% of participants, and reported results in the form of a graph for 30% of participants. The carcinoembryonic antigen level was lower in the cryotherapy group, and decreased to normal values faster in comparison with the control group (P < 0.05).

FUNDING

the trial did not provide information on funding.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

The evidence for the effectiveness of cryotherapy versus conventional surgery in people with liver metastases is of low certainty. We are uncertain about our estimate and cannot determine whether cryotherapy compared with conventional surgery is beneficial or harmful. We found no evidence for the benefits or harms of cryotherapy compared with no intervention, or versus systemic treatments.

New Trends in the Surgical Treatment of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common solid tumors affecting people around the world. A significant proportion of patients with colorectal cancer will develop or will present with liver metastases. In some of these patients, the liver is the only site of metastatic disease. Thus, surgical treatment approaches are an appropriate and important treatment option in patients with liver-only colorectal cancer metastases. Resection of colorectal cancer liver metastases can produce long-term survival in selected patients, but the efficacy of liver resection as a solitary treatment is limited by two factors. First, a minority of patients with liver metastases have resectable disease. Second, the majority of patients who undergo successful liver resection for colorectal cancer metastases develop recurrent disease in the liver, extrahepatic sites, or both. In this paper, in addition to the results of liver resection for colorectal cancer metastases, we will review the results of cryoablation, heat ablation, and hepatic arterial chemotherapy using a surgically implanted pump. Each of these surgical treatment modalities can produce long-term survival in a subset of patients with liver-only colorectal cancer metastases, whereas systemic chemotherapy used alone rarely results in long-term survival in these patients. While surgical treatments provide the best chance for long-term survival or, in some cases, the best palliation in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases, it is clear that further improvements in patient outcome will require multimodality therapy regimens.

Clinical evaluation of chemosensitivity testing for patients with colorectal cancer using MTT assay

PURPOSE

Colorectal cancer is one of the tumors most refractory to treatment by chemotherapy. The chemosensitivity test should be performed to individualize the chemotherapy for patients with colorectal cancer, which is less sensitive for anticancer drugs. The present study was designed to determine the chemosensitivity in fresh human colorectal cancer, using highly purified tumor cells, and the correlation of this sensitivity with clinical response.

METHODS

We determined the chemosensitivity for cisplatin, mitomycin C, adriamycin, and 5-fluorouracil in vitro in 93 fresh human colorectal cancers using the MTT assay and performed chemotherapy according to results of the MTT assay.

RESULTS

Inhibition rate of tumor cells for cisplatin was higher than those for other drugs. Fifteen patients who have evaluable lesions received chemotherapy according to results of the MTT assay. Clinical responses were obtained in 5 of 15 patients, and the inhibition rate for cisplatin was higher in responders than in nonresponders.

CONCLUSIONS

It is suggested that the chemotherapy according to results of the MTT assay is effective in patients with colorectal cancer.