Isolated Limb Perfusion

When certain types of tumors (like melanoma or sarcomas, usually in locally advanced stage) are located in upper or lower extremities, then in addition to surgical removal of the tumor, we can deliver a very high dose of chemotherapy to the entire limb without any leakage of chemotherapy to the rest of the body.

This is usually done by injecting a high dose of chemotherapy in the main artery to the limb (inflow of chemotherapy) and collecting through the vein and recirculating it for an hour to 90 minutes in the same limb through a heart lung machine to keep the limb tissue oxygenated at the time of chemotherapy.

This can be done in conjunction with increasing the temperature of the treated limb (hyperthermic perfusion) or at normal body temperature (normothermic perfusion).

Ask the physician if your tumor needs this type of treatment.