OBJECTIVE To develop an effectual method for treating hepatic metastasis from rectal cancer.METHODS A randomized control study of celiac artery perfusion plus transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) (observation group) and intravenous chemotherapy (control group) for 99 cases with hepatic metastasis from rectal cancer was performed. The perfusion was repeated once at 4 weeks after the first treatment of 52 cases in the observation group, and it was subsequently repeated at an interval of 2 or 3 months. Using intravenous administration, the perfusion was repeated once every 3 weeks with 47 cases in the control group.RESULTS Three months after treatment, the patients in the observation group who showed a relief or elimination of a former superior abdominal pain amounted to 70.6%, and those with a diminution of their intrahepatic mass reached 55.8%. In the control group, the patients with a relief or disappearance of hepatalgia reached 20%, and those with a diminution of their intrahepatic mass reached 10.6%. The 1, 2 and 3-year survival rates were 80.8%, 46.2% and 25.0% in the cases of the observation group and 61.7%, 19.1% and 4.3% in the control group, respectively.CONCLUSION For the patients who failed to receive a surgical operation on their hepatic metastasis from rectal cancer, celiac artery perfusion plus TACE is a more effective regimen for improvement of the clinical symptoms and extension of the survival time, compared to intravenous chemotherapy, and is a better choice for palliative therapy.