adjuvant regional arterial port chemotherapy after resection of colorectal liver metastases between 1986 and 1995 we performed radical hepatic resections r0 resections in 109 patients with hepatic metastases following colorectal carcinoma in 50 patients a hepatic arterial port device was implanted for adjuvant regional chemotherapy hai mitomycin c 5fluorouracil and since 1993 folinic acid have been administered during 6 monthly repeated courses in 9 patients the treatment had to be withdrawn because of complications the remaining 59 patients were not treated in 73 of the patients after port implantation mostly minor complications occurred during chemotherapy our results confirmed a markedly increased survival rate during the first 3 postoperative years followed by a prolongation of median survival time of treated patients compared to untreated patients nevertheless the observed differences of median survival were not statistically different in contrast the 5year survival rates of both groups were not different the frequency localization and resectability of recurrences were not influenced by adjuvant chemotherapy however the lengthening of mean survival time in the treated group might reflect a delay in the occurrence of early recurrences in conclusion adjuvant hepatic arterial chemotherapy following resection of colorectal hepatic metastases might be able to prolong the time until recurrence but does not help to avoiding it therefore it did not increase the rate of cure following r0 resections of colorectal hepatic metastases in our series taking into account the high rate of local complications of the port systems in our series angiographic controls are strongly recommended prior to each chemotherapeutic cycle