the normal liver gets its blood supply from two sources: the portal vein (about 70%) and the hepatic artery (30%). primary liver cancer also known as hepatoma or hepatocellular carcinoma gets its blood exclusively from the hepatic artery. making use of this fact investigators have delivered chemotherapy drugs selectively through the hepatic artery directly to the hcc tumor. the theoretical advantage is that higher concentrations of the agents can be delivered to the tumors without subjecting the patients to the body-wide toxicity of the drugs.
why is chemotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma injected into the hepatic artery?