Current perspectives on hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in gastric cancer

Abstract:

Cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC) is an effective treatment in a variety of cancers with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC), especially in pseudomyxoma peritonei for which it is the standard of care. The data for gastric cancer are not as conclusive. This review discusses the effect of HIPEC on gastric cancer survival, the importance of patient selection, the effect of HIPEC on gastric cancer morbidity, translational research on HIPEC, and other recent research on HIPEC in the setting of gastric cancer and/or peritoneal metastases. CRS-HIPEC has been shown to be superior to either CRS alone or systemic chemotherapy alone in terms of improving survival. CRS-HIPEC seems to be the best current treatment for patients with gastric cancer and peritoneal metastases. The international community has recommended it as the treatment for this disease. Prudent patient selection before CRS-HIPEC is recommended as subgroups of patients have been shown to benefit from the treatment, while others have not. Studies on CRS-HIPEC have shown the procedure to have acceptably low rates of morbidity and peri- and postoperative complications as well as significant reductions in the incidence of ascites associated with PC. Translational research on HIPEC supports its use as prophylaxis for prevention of peritoneal metastasis and demonstrates HIPEC to be both effective and safe. Measurement of the tumor marker carcinoembryonic antigen has been shown to be an effective indicator of future outcomes in gastric cancer treated with CRS-HIPEC. Although the treatment outcomes have improved, even current treatment using CRS-HIPEC for gastric cancer with PC the survival rates can be dismal. Thus, the treatment of advanced gastric cancer with PC is an ongoing field of study and future directions of the treatment of gastric cancer with PC may include the use of intraperitoneal immunotherapy.

Keywords::

• gastric cancer
• cytoreductive surgery
• HIPEC
• morbidity
• mortality

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.