Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy - Fading Perspective in the Light of Modern Systemic Chemotherapy?

Background: Peritoneal metastasis (PM) in a gastrointestinal cancer is associated with a poor prognosis. Various guidelines recommend palliative chemotherapy in these patients as cure is not achievable. However, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in combination with cytoreductive surgery (CRS) can achieve long-term survival with low morbidity in selected patients. During the last decades, CRS and HIPEC have been performed in a number of indications, aiming for long-term survival. What is more, new drugs and treatment regimens demonstrate favorable results.

Methods: The recently published important literature on PM in gastrointestinal cancer was analyzed.

Results: Resection of isolated PM in a gastrointestinal cancer should be considered, and HIPEC is feasible. However, there is a lack of well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in gastrointestinal cancer-related PM. Many RCTs are being conducted across the world whose results will be available in 1-2 years. Systemic chemotherapy alone as an adequate management plan for isolated PM in a gastrointestinal cancer is not compatible with a high standard of care. Formulating an optimal plan combining the benefits of CRS and HIPEC coupled with systemic chemotherapy is a necessary task of the multidisciplinary team. Proper selection of the patients for CRS and HIPEC is necessary to achieve maximal oncological benefit and minimal perioperative morbidity and mortality.

Conclusions: A multidisciplinary approach combining the benefits of both CRS and HIPEC, and systemic chemotherapy is the way forward to manage those patients with gastrointestinal cancer and PM. Further studies are warranted to identify the selection variables for CRS and HIPEC.