Efficacy of the left gastric artery as a route for catheterization of the right gastric artery.

Abstract

Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of the left gastric artery as a route for embolization of the right gastric artery before port-catheter implantation for hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy. In 88 patients (61 men and 27 women; mean age, 63.4 years; range, 25-83 years) with unresectable advanced liver cancer, retrograde catheterization of the right gastric artery through the left gastric artery was performed to embolize the right gastric artery. The right gastric artery was successfully catheterized and embolized in 79 patients (89.8%). In two of the nine patients in whom the procedure was not successful, we found that no right gastric artery existed after we succeeded in retrograde advancement of the microcatheter toward the hepatic site. The only procedure-related complication was misplacement of a microcoil into the hepatic artery site in two patients. The left gastric artery is an appropriate route for selective embolization of the right gastric artery as preparation for long-term hepatic artery infusion chemotherapy.