HAI liver pump for mCRC offers second chances

Hope Brooks is the vision of health. She exercises daily, teaches core power yoga, keeps up with doctor appointments, and participates in other healthy habits.

Weeks after her 50th birthday, in early 2022, Hope began to experience abdominal pain. She was also having difficulty finishing meals, despite being hungry.

The pain worsened, and Hope ended up in urgent care. A blood draw showing low hemoglobin also prompted concern about her liver.

“They thought it was a chronic illness, but I had never been sick in my whole life,” Hope said.

An ultrasound was performed, and Hope was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer with a large metastasis to the liver.

“My liver was so swollen they could see the mass on the ultrasound,” Hope said. “It was pressing on my intestines and stomach.”

The hospital gave Hope two rounds of systemic chemotherapy. Three months into chemo, Hope and a friend began researching her condition.

Becoming her own advocate, Hope switched doctors right around the time her friend found a Facebook group where members shared their experiences with Hepatic Artery Infusion (HAI) therapy. HAI therapy is used for colorectal or bile duct cancer that has spread to the liver.

While traditional chemotherapy travels through the body’s bloodstream to reach the liver, with only a small portion of the treatment reaching the affected area, HAI therapy utilizes a pump that is implanted just below the skin of the abdomen and sends therapy directly to the liver.

Her doctor said Hope was the perfect candidate for the Intera 3000 HAI Pump, which was implanted in December 2022.

Hope’s liver tumor shrank dramatically after she started therapy with the HAI pump, and then she had surgery to remove the remaining cancer in her liver.

While receiving HAI therapy, Hope was able to maintain her active lifestyle.

“If you met me, you wouldn’t know I was a stage IV cancer patient,” she said. “I fortunately have managed to exercise daily, teach yoga, and stay otherwise healthy and active while raising my two children as a solo mom. Physical activity and a healthy lifestyle have helped me through the last two and a half years.”

In 2024, Hope experienced a recurrence in her liver, and doctors reactivated her HAI pump to deliver therapy to the tumors. Subsequent scans showed no evidence of disease in her liver. Hope recently had rectal resection surgery to remove the origin point of her cancer.

Hope has paid forward her initial experience of learning about HAI therapy within the online patient community, meeting several patients to help walk them through the process.

“I’ve found a great purpose in connecting with other patients and caregivers,” Hope said.

She continued, “I wouldn’t be here without this pump or my surgeon. My liver is very happy right now, and I am here because of that.”

Learn more about HAI Therapy on the Alliance’s website here or connect with an HAI specialist here. 

Hope’s experience is unique to her, and individual results may vary. Talk with your doctor to see if HAI Therapy may be right for you. See full safety information here.

The Intera 3000 Hepatic Artery Infusion Pump is indicated for the continuous arterial administration of JND Therapeutics Floxuridine for Injection, USP, heparinized saline, and glycerin. The approved labeling for JND Therapeutics Floxuridine for Injection, USP stipulates the indications, contraindications, and warnings for use of the drug in the pump. The Intera 3000 Hepatic Artery Infusion Pump is contraindicated for use in patients with extensive extrahepatic disease or limited hepatic function. Possible adverse events of the pump are those potential risks associated with any implanted drug delivery device and include: catheter thrombosis, bolus path occlusion, vessel thrombosis, pump dislodgement, seroma, or recurrent hematoma, infection, extravasation, catheter shear, dislodgement or leakage, migration, arterial pseudoaneurysm, arterial dissection, and extrahepatic perfusion. Caution: Federal law (USA) restricts this device to sale by or on the order of a physician. Please review the full safety information at https://www.interaoncology.com/patients-caregivers/hai-therapy/safety-information.

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