Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer EDITORIAL COMMENT

摘要

The majority of patients with ovarian cancer (OC) receive an initial diagnosis of advanced disease that has spread from the ovaries to the peritoneal surface. The most effective treatment for patients with advanced disease is cytoreductive surgery followed by systemic chemotherapy. As an alternative, interval cytoreductive surgery is performed after 3 cycles of chemotherapy. Following these treatments, the primary site of disease recurrence is the peritoneal surface. Delivery of chemotherapy by the intraperitoneal (IP) route enhances drug delivery at the peritoneal surface and eliminates residual microscopic peritoneal disease more efficiently than intravenous administration. Previous trials have shown that after primary cytoreductive surgery combined use of intravenous and IP chemotherapy results in longer overall survival among patients with stage III OC compared with intravenous administration alone. Combined intravenous/IP chemotherapy has several drawbacks that have hampered its adoption inmany countries. These include catheter-related problems, increased demands on the patient, and gastrointestinal and renal adverse effects. Most of these drawbacks can be circumvented by delivery of the IP chemotherapy at the end of surgery.