Background: Peritoneal carcinomatosis of gastric origin is associated with poor survival. The use of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) did not significantly improve the survival of patients with this disease. A promising approach can be based on the use of HIPEC as prophylaxis of peritoneal dissemination.
Patients and methods: From our database, we have sampled 12 patients with advanced gastric cancer. In all cases, a D2 total gastrectomy was performed, associated with splenectomy in four cases. All patients were submitted to HIPEC.
Results: Morbidity and mortality were 33.3% and 8.3%, respectively. The median survival was 24 months, with only one case (8.3%) of peritoneal recurrence.
Conclusion: In light of our experience and supported by literature data, we can affirm that HIPEC has a potential role in the prevention of gastric carcinomatosis. Certainly further studies are required on a larger scale to validate this new but promising approach.
Keywords: Gastric cancer; HIPEC; prophylaxis.