INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Colorectal cancer often spreads to the liver, requiring prolonged chemotherapy.

Now, doctors are turning to hepatic artery infusion. This therapy delivers chemo directly into the liver, and that increases the survival rate by up to 40%.

“There’s a catheter that comes out from here and then goes directly into the liver,” said Dr. Colin Court, MD, PhD, in surgical oncology at UT Health San Antonio.

This hepatic infusion pump is a game changer, sending chemo directly to liver tumors caused by colorectal cancer.

“Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, so stage 4 colorectal cancer that’s spread to the liver, up to 40% of them can be cured,” Court said.

Nick Kincaid, an urban planner and new dad, was diagnosed at 37 and placed on traditional chemo by his physician.

“Definitely getting that initial diagnosis was very shocking,” Nick said.

He stopped working, began regular chemo and fatigue took over his life.

“It really does just change everything, even down to, ‘Am I even able to walk my dog,’” Nick said.

Faced with a lifetime of chemo, Nick is fortunate enough to work with Court, who shifted his treatment to HAI pump therapy.

“We place this into a small artery that comes off the hepatic artery that is the main blood supply to the liver and it continuously infuses chemotherapy into that hepatic artery,” Court said.

Provides 400 times the dosage, while causing minimal side effects.

“Having a doctor sort of look at it a bit differently and a see a pathway to a cure, and see other options for me was very powerful,” Nick said.

This FDA-approved device remains in place for the length of the treatment, and the HAI pump is not available everywhere, so be sure to ask your doctor.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV. Health Spotlight is presented by Community Health Network.