Chemoperfusion and Chemoembolization of Malignant Pulmonary Tumors

Abstract

The incidence of lung cancer has increased enormously in the last century [1], and lung cancer is now one of the most common malignant diseases worldwide. In the United States, bronchogenic carcinoma is the second most common cancer for both men and women. In 2014, 224,210 new cases of bronchogenic carcinoma were diagnosed in the United States, and 154,900 people died of this disease, making bronchogenic carcinoma the leading cause of cancer-related death [2]. Pulmonary metastases from primary tumors at other sites are also a major problem: between 20 and 30% of patients suffering from cancer develop pulmonary metastases [3]. The prognosis for patients with bronchogenic carcinomas or pulmonary metastases is poor. In patients with stage I and II bronchogenic carcinoma, resection offers the best chance for long-term survival [4–7], but only 25 to 30% of such tumors are resectable [2, 4, 5]. The mean survival duration after diagnosis is 12 months for patients with bronchogenic carcinomas and less than 1 year for patients with unresectable pulmonary metastases. Five-year survival rates are 10% for patients with bronchogenic carcinoma overall [4], 23–50% for patients with bronchogenic carcinoma who undergo resection [6–9], and 1% for patients with unresectable bronchogenic carcinomas. In patients who undergo resection of pulmonary metastases, the 5-year survival rate is 20–46% [10–17].