Clinical studies on preoperative continuous intra-arterial chemotherapy in the treatment of malignant soft tissue tumors

Preoperative continuous intra-arterial chemotherapy combined with surgery in the treatment of malignant soft tissue tumors has been used since 1971 in our clinic. We treated thirty-eight patients, and twenty-five of them underwent preoperative intra-arterial chemotherapy and surgery. The diagnoses were liposarcoma (5), synovial sarcoma (4), rhabdomyosarcoma (2), angiosarcoma (2), malignant schwannoma (2), malignant lymphoma (2) and 8 other types of tumors. From the standpoint of local failures, there was only one recurrent case. Eighteen patients are alive now without evidence of disease. The 10-year cumulative survival rate for cases treated with intra-arterial chemotherapy was 69.5%, as compared with 24.9% of cases without intra-arterial chemotherapy. Therefore we conclude that preoperative continuous intra-arterial chemotherapy is a very effective method in the treatment of malignant soft tissue tumors.