Cancer chemoprevention by ginseng in mouse liver and other organs.

Oral administration of red ginseng extracts (1% in diet for 40 weeks) resulted in the significant suppression of spontaneous liver tumor formation in C3H/He male mice. Average number of tumors per mouse in control group was 1.06, while that in red ginseng extracts-treated group was 0.33 (p<0.05). Incidence of liver tumor development was also lower in red ginseng extracts-treated group, although the difference from control group was not statistically significant. Anti-carcinogenic activity of white ginseng extracts, besides red ginseng extracts, was also investigated. In the present study, the administration of white ginseng extracts was proven to suppress tumor promoter-induced phenomena in vitro and in vivo. It is of interest that oral administration of the extracts of Ren-Shen-Yang- Rong-Tang, a white ginseng-containing Chinese medicinal prescription, resulted in the suppression of skin tumor promotion by 12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate in 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-initiated CD-1 mice. These results suggest the usefulness of ginseng in the field of cancer prevention.

Postoperative adjuvant hepatic arterial infusion of Lipiodol containing anticancer drugs in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Vascular invasion and intrahepatic metastasis by hepatocellular carcinoma are important factors predisposing to tumor recurrence. Recurrences of this malignancy occur frequently in residual liver, and its prevention is one of the most important factors in obtaining better surgical survival. Fifty patients who underwent hepatectomy for invasive hepatocellular carcinoma with vascular invasion and/or intrahepatic metastases were studied to evaluate the effect of adjuvant bolus hepatic arterial infusion of iodized poppyseed oil (Lipiodol) containing anticancer drugs in preventing recurrence and in prolonging survival. Patients were assigned to two treatment groups. Twenty-three of the fifty patients received adjuvant bolus infusion of Lipiodol containing doxorubicin and mitomycin C, whereas 27 patients received no therapy. The disease-free survival rate for the patients who received adjuvant therapy was significantly better (p < 0.05) than that for those who did not when measured at 172, 516, 688 and 860 days after hepatectomy, and the disease-free survival curve for patients with adjuvant therapy was significantly (p = 0.0237) better than that without adjuvant therapy. The cumulative survival rates and curves were not significantly different between the two groups. While adjuvant hepatic arterial infusion of Lipiodol containing anticancer drugs was effective in improving disease-free survival, the effect was not satisfactory. Further trials of adjuvant chemotherapy are required to improve the surgical survival of hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

[Prevention of postoperative recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma by adjuvant locoregional chemotherapy].

Postoperative adjuvant locoregional chemotherapy was performed on patients who underwent hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma with permeation of tumor into portal vein and/or into hepatic vein and/or intrahepatic metastasis to prevent recurrence. Twenty patients received intra-hepato-arterial infusion of chemotherapeutic drugs or Lipiodol, or transcatheter arterial embolization as adjuvant therapy, and 25 patients did not receive the therapy. There was no significant difference in the recurrence rate between the two groups, and disease-free-survival would not be improved significantly by adjuvant therapy. But the disease-free-survival was improved in patients who underwent relative noncurative hepatectomies. Median duration from the hepatic resection to the recurrence was prolonged by adjuvant therapy, but no significant difference was noted between the two groups. Serious hepatic injury was a side effect of adjuvant therapy in one patient. Therefore great care was necessary when performing the therapy. Further study on choice of the drugs and methods was considered necessary to obtain more effective therapy.