Diabetes and Growth of Tumour Transplants

Abstract

SUMMARY.-An angiographic study of the vasculature of Vx2 tumour deposits in the rabbit's liver is described.Tumours transplanted from donor rabbits within less than 2 weeks incubation, developed into an amorphic infiltrating tumour, characterized by a rich arterial network. Tumours harvested after 3 weeks growth in donors, became cystic and had a scanty arterial supply.In both groups there was no portal circulation to the tumours' deposits. It is suggested that prior to intra-arterial treatment of cancer in the liver, the morphology of the tumour should be assessed.DURING the past few years, great interest has been shown in using perfusion techniques in certain isolated regions of the body in order to administer high doses of anti-cancer drugs or radio-active substances.Ariel ( 1956) showed the possibility of treating hepatic cancer by chemotherapeutic agents administered intra-arterially, and a few years later he and Pack (1967) summarized a most impressive report, using this time a combination of chemotherapy and radioisotopes intra-arterially in the treatment of liver metastases. Such treatments are based on the assumption that the tumour's nutrition depends solely on its arterial supply. However, the hazards of cannulating and perfusing large arteries are not at all negligible. Moreover, the success reported of less than 50 % in the best of cases, makes it debatable whether painstaking arterial cannulation in all cases of malignant deposits in the liver is at all justified.Would it not suffice to adopt simpler and less traumatic procedures, as proposed by Kessler and Ramos Yordan (1967), such as umbilical vein infusions to reach the tumour through the portal tree?The controversy concerning the best route of administration of anti-cancer drugs particularly applies to tumours of the lung and liver because of the dual blood supply of these organs, and very few studies have been made, to date, on the exact mode of vasculature of tumours in these two sites.Our present study of implanted tumours in the liver of rabbits confirms the assumption that portal supply is insufficient and that arterial supply is the dominant access to the tumours. Yet, this is not true in all cases, as it is the pathological nature of the tumour that will determine the pattern of its vasculature. MATERIAL AND METHODHealthy New Zealand white rabbits, aged 6-8 months and weighing 5-7 kg.were used.