Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center at Banner Boswell Medical Center is helping cancer patients keep tumors in the liver at bay with a novel treatment.

Called Hepatic Arterial Infusion therapy, this newer cancer treatment uses a pump to deliver a higher dose of chemotherapy directly into the tumors found in the liver.

This treatment option was monumental in Phoenix resident Shannon Jacobo’s journey colorectal cancer. The 45-year-old was diagnosed with stage II colorectal cancer in June 2022.

Given her younger age, Jacobo was shocked at the diagnosis.

“I started noticing symptoms about a year before (my diagnosis),” Jacobo said. “I wasn’t digesting well, there sometimes was blood in my stool, but I thought it was all just due to stress. Looking back, I’m so glad I forced myself to get it checked out.”

Jacobo was in surgery within a month of her diagnosis to remove a foot of her colon. At that point, she thought her journey with cancer was over.

But when a PET scan was administered to confirm all the cancer was removed, doctors found a few cancerous spots in her liver. Jacobo was now diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer.

“Since (that stage IV diagnosis), I had to undergo regular chemotherapy that was starting to debilitate my body and my spirit,” Jacobo said. “I also had two surgeries on my liver that failed to fully remove the cancer. I needed to find another way to overcome this.”

That’s when Jacobo was connected with Dr. Rajesh Ramanathan with Banner MD Anderson, who performs the innovative HAI therapy. According to Dr. Ramanathan, Banner MD Anderson is the only health care system in the southwest that offers HAI treatment to cancer patients.

“Because we’re delivering the chemotherapy directly into one’s cancerous cells, we can limit how much of the drug is reaching the healthy parts of one’s body,” Ramanathan said. “It gives patients a better quality of life they might not otherwise have with just regular chemotherapy.”

HAI was exactly what Jacobo needed. She had her procedure on Oct. 22, the day of her daughter’s 18th birthday. Since then, recovery has gone smoothly, and Jacobo said she is feeling better than she ever has along this cancer journey.

“I feel like I have more strength, physically, now than I did when I was just undergoing regular chemotherapy,” Jacobo said. “And now, I could be completely cancer-free within six months. Dr. Ramanathan was the light I needed.”

The HAI procedure is also offered at Banner MD Anderson at Banner Gateway Medical Center.

“HAI truly helps make our patients’ lives easier on their cancer journey. I’m proud we are able to offer it at Banner MD Anderson,” Ramanathan added.

Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center delivers cancer care to patients through the partnership of Banner Health and MD Anderson Cancer Center. Banner MD Anderson offers focused disease-specific expertise in the medical, radiation and surgical management of the cancer patient; an evidence-based, multidisciplinary approach to patient care; access to clinical trials and new investigative therapies; state-of-the-art technology for the diagnosis, staging and treatment of all types of cancer; oncology expertise in supportive care services.

More information is available by visiting www.BannerMDAnderson.com.