Cytoreductive surgery and intraoperative hyperthermic chemotherapy: an effective treatment for peritoneal carcinomatosis

The peritoneal carcinomatosis represents a very serious stage in the evolution of a tumor and is usually considered incurable. The abdominal cavity becomes the site of neoplastic masses that originate mostly from intestinal or ovarian cancers. It is a disease with poor prognosis, about 6 months, if not treated. New acquisitions in the field of biology and pathophysiology of carcinomatosis and a greater understanding of the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of certain anticancer agents have helped to achieve, in selected cases, encouraging results using a new approach: cytoreductive surgery associated with intraperitoneal chemohyperthermia. We present the rationale of this technique and the experience gained in our surgical unit in the last seven years.