Home > Encyclopedia of Cancer > Hepatic Arterial Infusion

Definition

Hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) therapy, delivers chemotherapeutic agents directly to the liver through a catheter placed in the hepatic artery. The hepatic artery is the main route of blood supply to liver tumors. HAI is also known as regional chemotherapy.

Purpose

Approximately 160, 000 patients are diagnosed with colon cancer in the U.S. each year. The cancer spreads to the liver in about 70 percent of those patients. For patients with colorectal liver metastases, tumor progression within the liver is typically the primary cause of death.

Systemic chemotherapy using various agents has some efficacy, but the side...