Outpatient intra-arterial chemotherapy without radiation therapy for stages II and III oral cancer: A new treatment to improve quality of life and reduce irradiation-related complications.

Abstract

e17567 Background: We developed a superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy (iaCT) approach to oral cancer, in which an intra-arterial catheter is retrogradely inserted through the superficial temporal artery and/or occipital artery with concurrent radiation therapy (RT). This approach remarkably improves the curative effect, but it decreases patients’ quality of life (QOL) because of prolonged hospitalization, severe stomatitis, lifelong dry mouth, dysgeusia, and radiation osteonecrosis of the maxillo-mandibular bone. Methods: This study assessed our new outpatient iaCT (op-iaCT) approach involving a subcutaneous infusion reservoir without concurrent RT. We included 23 patients, 11 with stage II and 12 with stage III oral cancer, and they were treated with the op-iaCT approach without concurrent RT. Using this approach, the chemotherapeutic agent was intra-arterially administered at the Outpatient Chemotherapy Center of Rinku General Medical Center. Results: The response rate to this approach was 100%, and all patients had a complete response. Four patients with secondary regional lymph node metastasis underwent neck dissection. Twenty patients were disease-free without an irradiation-related complication, whereas 3 patients died of distant metastasis (2) or local recurrence (1). With the exception of ambulatory visits twice per week for 3 weeks, patients’ activities of daily living (ADLs) were mostly unaffected. Moreover, patients rarely complained of dry mouth or dysgeusia, and they were free from radiation osteonecrosis after cancer therapy. Additionally, they did not develop oral dysfunction related to radical operation. Conclusions: In this approach, the catheter is implanted subcutaneously; therefore, common catheter-related issues rarely occur, resulting in good maintenance of ADLs. Moreover, patients can avoid the side effects of RT. Consequently, patient’s QOL improves and medical expenses decrease. Thus, our new op-iaCT approach improves QOL and the curative effect in patients with oral cancer if their ambulatory and performance status is good.