OBJECTIVE. The objective of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of hypertonic saline for the treatment of liver tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Thirty New Zealand white rabbits inoculated with VX2 carcinoma in the liver were included in this experiment. These animals were divided into two groups: one for the evaluation of survival time (n = 20) and the other, for tumor size (n = 10). Each group was divided further into control and treatment subgroups. Hypertonic saline was injected directly into the liver tumor of the treatment group under CT guidance 10 days after inoculation. The liver tumor in the control group was injected with normal saline. The group for evaluation of tumor size was sacrificed 14 days later. The other group was raised until they died. RESULTS. The survival time of the rabbits in the treatment group (38.1 +/- 2.3 days) was significantly longer (p < 0.001) than that of the untreated group (29.9 +/- 2.9 days). For tumor size, the difference between the treatment group (8.04 +/- 2.46 cm(2)) and the control group (11.08 +/- 2.52 cm(2)) was also significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION. Hypertonic saline injection had the effect of controlling the growth of VX2 carcinoma cells and extending the life of rabbits. It deserves further investigation.
