Safety and preliminary results of perioperative chemotherapy and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for high-risk gastric cancer patients

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) plus systemic chemotherapy versus systemic chemotherapy alone in locally advanced gastric cancer after D2 radical resection: a randomized-controlled study

BACKGROUND

Currently, there is a lack of an effective strategy for the prevention of peritoneal metastasis (PM) from locally advanced gastric cancer (AGC). This randomized-controlled study aimed to evaluate the outcome of D2 radical resection with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) plus systemic chemotherapy versus systemic chemotherapy alone in locally AGC patients.

METHODS

All enrolled patients were randomly assigned to receive HIPEC plus systemic chemotherapy (HIPEC group) or systemic chemotherapy alone (non-HIPEC group) after radical gastrectomy. HIPEC was performed intraperitoneally with cisplatin (40 mg/m2) within 72 h after surgery, while systemic chemotherapy based on the SOX regimen (S-1 combined with oxaliplatin) was administered 4-6 weeks after radical surgery. Patterns of recurrence, adverse events, 3-year disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) were analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 134 patients were enrolled in the present study. The 3-year DFS rate was 73.8% in the HIPEC group, which was significantly higher than that in the non-HIPEC group (61.2%, P = 0.031). The 3-year OS rate was 73.9% in the HIPEC group and 77.6% in the non-HIPEC group, with no significant difference (P = 0.737). PM was the most common distant metastasis in both groups. The occurrence rate of PM in the HIPEC group was statistically lower than that in the non-HIPEC group (20.9% vs. 40.3%, P = 0.015). Grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred in 19 (14.2%) patients, and there was no significant difference between the two groups.

CONCLUSION

Radical surgery followed by HIPEC combined with systemic chemotherapy is a safe and feasible strategy for locally AGC patients and could effectively improve DFS and reduce the occurrence of PM. However, more prospective randomized studies with a large sample size are warranted.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study was registered with www.medresman.org.cn as ChiCTR2200055966 on 10/12/2016.

Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in the Management of Gastric Cancer: A Narrative Review

Gastric cancer (GC) patients with peritoneal metastasis tend to achieve poor clinical outcomes. Until recently, the treatment options were limited mainly to either palliative chemotherapy or radiation therapy in exceptional cases. Currently, these patients benefit from multimodal treatment, such as cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Despite good overall results, this treatment modality is still widely debated. The following study is designed to assess the papers about the possible application and utility of HIPEC in GC. A search in the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases was performed to assess the papers devoted to the role of HIPEC in GC treatment; a literature search was performed until March 21st; and, finally, 50 studies with a total number of 3946 patients were analyzed. According to the most recent data, it seems to be reasonable to limit the duration of HIPEC to the shortest effective time. Moreover, the drugs used in HIPEC need to have equal concentrations and the same solvent. Perioperative chemotherapy needs to be reported in detail and, furthermore, the term “morbidity” should be defined more clearly by the authors.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in prevention of gastric cancer metachronous peritoneal metastases: a systematic review

Gastric cancer progression resulting in metachronous peritoneal metastasizing is almost always associated with an adverse prognosis. This review discusses various options of preventing metachronous peritoneal metastases in radically operated gastric cancer patients. Also examined are different hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) regimens employed in gastric cancer treatment, postoperative morbidity and mortality rates and long-term treatment outcomes. The authors also review their own experience of using HIPEC based on the combination of cisplatin and doxorubicin in doses of 50 mg/m² at 42 °C for 1 h to prevent gastric cancer peritoneal dissemination. As a result, progression-free survival rose from 19.6%±5.6% to 47.1%±6.3% (P_log-rank <0.001) and dissemination-free survival-from 22.7%±6.0% to 51.9%±6.3% (P_log-rank <0.001). It is noted that the combination of the described HIPEC regimen with systemic chemotherapy helped raise metastases-free 3-year survival rate to up to 91.0%±9.0% (P_log-rank =0.025) compared with 48.6%±6.4% for patients who underwent only a combined surgery/HIPEC treatment. HIPEC is a promising combined treatment strategy for radically operated gastric cancer patients that can improve patient survival and decrease peritoneal dissemination rate. However, the number of randomized studies on adjuvant HIPEC are still insufficient for a subgroup assessment of efficacy of the given chemotherapy regimens and generation of evidence-based recommendations on the individual use of chemotherapy agents and their combinations, and HIPEC procedural techniques. Further prospective randomized studies are needed to assess the practicability of complementing HIPEC with adjuvant systemic chemotherapies.

Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer: a retrospective case-matched study on perioperative outcomes

Background

This study aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) with intraoperative hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for advanced gastric cancer (AGC).

Methods

In this case-matched study, we retrospectively reviewed the database of 223 patients with AGC who underwent LDG in Tangdu Hospital from April 2016 to February 2019. Among all participants, 177 patients underwent LDG alone and 46 underwent LDG with HIPEC. We matched total of 138 (1:2) patients from the LDG + HIPEC group (n 46) and the LDG group (n 92) for gender, age, date of operation, and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage of tumor.

Results

There was no significant difference in the Clavien-Dindo classification of complications between LDG alone and LDG + HIPEC patients. Further analysis showed the morbidity of gastroparesis to be significantly increased in LDG + HIPEC patients. At the same time, we found that the operation time, the time to 1st flatus, and hospital stay were longer in LDG + HIPEC patients and the incidence of abdominal recurrence 2 years after operation was significantly higher in the LDG group than the LDG + HIPEC group.

Conclusions

The combination of LDG with intraoperative HIPEC is a safe and feasible method for AGC and HIPEC will limit the recovery of gastrointestinal functions. In addition, during the follow-up of our study, although there was no statistical difference between the two groups in abdominal recurrence at 2 years after surgery, a decreasing trend of abdominal recurrence in LDG + HIPEC patients could be seen in comparison to LDG patients.

Efficacy of Adjuvant Systemic Chemotherapy Combined with Radical Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Gastric Cancer Treatment

Evaluation of the efficacy of the combination of radical surgery, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), and adjuvant systemic chemotherapy (ACT) in reducing gastric cancer progression in patients with resectable serosa-invasive gastric cancer in a single institution. In 2015-2016, 19 patients with gastric cancer (stage IIB-IIIC) were included in the trial. The trial protocol comprised radical surgery, HIPEC (cisplatin 50 mg/m² + doxorubicin 50 mg/m², 42 °C, 1 hour), and 1-8 cycles of ACT (oxaliplatin 100 mg/m² administered on day 1 of each cycle and oral capecitabine 1000 mg/m² (or tegafur 10-15 mg/kg) administered twice daily on days 1-14 of each cycle with an interval of 7 days between cycles). Following the ACT treatment, the patients were divided into 2 subgroups-those who underwent up to 6 ACT cycles (1-6 cycles, subgroup ≤ 6-8 patients) and those who underwent 7-8 ACT cycles (subgroup > 6-11 patients). Three-year metastasis-free survival (MFS) for the > 6 subgroup was 91 ± 9%. With a follow-up median of 17 months, 3-year MFS for the ≤ 6 subgroup was not reached - p _log-rank = 0.003. The trial showed that in managing advanced gastric cancer patients (pT4a-4bN0-3 M0) by supplementing radical surgery with ACT-enhanced hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, ACT proved to be highly effective when administered in its full mode of 7-8 cycles compared with its truncated variant of 1-6 cycles.

Does hipec improve outcomes in gastric cancer patients treated with perioperative chemotherapy and radical surgery? A propensity-score matched analysis

BACKGROUND

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has been associated with improved survival when compared with surgery alone for non-metastatic gastric cancer patients in randomized trials and meta-analyses. However, little evidence is available regarding the use of HIPEC in nonmetastatic patients who are treated with perioperative chemotherapy and radical surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the putative survival benefit of HIPEC in the subgroup of gastric cancer patients treated with perioperative chemotherapy and surgery.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This was a retrospective cohort study that included gastroesophageal junction and gastric cancer patients who were treated with perioperative chemotherapy and curative resection in a single cancer center in the period between 2006 and 2017. In this time period, younger patients with diffuse-type tumors and serosa invasion or positive lymph node disease were often offered an adjuvant HIPEC protocol. This study compared the survival outcomes of these patients to the ones of those who received only perioperative chemotherapy and resection. A 2:1 propensity-score matched analysis for the two groups was also performed, and variables used were postchemotherapy T (ypT) and N (ypN) stages, histology and tumor site.

RESULTS

The study population comprised 269 subjects, 241 treated with chemotherapy and surgery and 28 who also received HIPEC. The mean age was 59 years old (standard deviation: 12.2) and 60% of all individuals were male. A total gastrectomy was performed in 137 patients and a distal resection in 132, with a D2-lymphadenectomy in 97.4% of the sample. Overall 60-day morbidity and mortality rates were 35.3% and 3.3%, respectively. In the HIPEC group, patients were younger, and more frequently had American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) 1 to 2 classification, tumors located in the gastric body, had diffuse histology, and ypN+ disease. Overall survival (OS; 5 years) results in the HIPEC and no HIPEC group were 59.5% vs 68.7% (P = .453), and disease-free survival (DFS) ones were 49.5% and 65.8% (P = .060), respectively. In the multivariable Cox regression model, ypT and ypN were independent overall and DFS predictors; also, ASA 3 to 4 classification and diffuse histology were associated with worse OS. In the matched analysis, HIPEC did not improve either overall (53.5% vs 59.5%; P = .517) or DFS (50.0% vs 49.5%; P = .993).

CONCLUSION

Treatment with HIPEC in patients who received perioperative chemotherapy and a D2-resection did not improve survival outcomes. Both ypT and ypN stages remained as the most important survival predictors in this cohort.

Peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer: results from the German database

BACKGROUND

Patients with peritoneal metastases of gastric cancer have a poor prognosis with a median survival of 7 months. A benefit of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) could be shown in several selected patient cohorts but remains controversial. The aim of this study was, to reflect the results of a national German HIPEC registry initiated by the German Society of General and Visceral Surgery (DGAV).

METHODS

The DGAV HIPEC registry StuDoQ|Peritoneum documents patients with peritoneal malignancy contributed from 52 hospitals. All consecutive documented patients from 2011 until 2016 (n = 3078) were treated with CRS and HIPEC and were analysed. A total of 315 (10%) suffered from gastric cancer and were analysed.

RESULTS

A complete data set of 235 patients was available for this study, including 113 male (48.1%) and 122 female (51.9%) patients with a median age of 53.4 years (SD ± 11.9). The median PCI was 8.0 (range 1-30). A complete cytoreduction was achieved in 121 patients (71.6%). Postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo grades 3-4) occurred in 40 patients (17%). The median overall survival (OS) time was 13 months. The 5-year survival rate was 6%. According to the PCI from 0-6 (n = 74); 7-15 (n  = 70) and 16-39 (n = 24) the median OS differs significantly (18 months vs. 12 months vs. 5 months; p = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

CRS and HIPEC in selected patients with gastric cancer and peritoneal spread can improve survival when they are treated in centers. An accurate staging and patient selection are of major importance to achieve long-term survival.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in serosa-invasive gastric cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Evaluation of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in reducing metachronous peritoneal metastases (MPM) risks in patients with resectable serosa-invasive gastric cancer.

MATERIALS & METHODS

Between 2008 and 2016, 154 patients with gastric cancer (stage IIB-IIIC) were randomly assigned to two groups: 76 patients underwent HIPEC (cisplatin 50 mg/m² + doxorubicin 50 mg/m², 42 °C, 1 h) combined with radical surgery (HIPEC group) and 78 patients underwent only radical surgery (control group).

RESULTS

Evaluation of HIPEC toxicity showed neither toxic complications of IV-V degree nor haematological toxicity (according to CTCAE v. 4.03). There was no significant difference in the rate of complications between the two groups (p = 0.254). There was a more frequent disease progression in the control group than in the HIPEC group: 42/55 patients (76.4%) vs. 36/68 patients (52.9%), respectively (p = 0.009). At the same time a significant decrease in the rate of MPM was observed after HIPEC administration as compared with surgery alone - 16/68 (12.8%) vs. 39/55 (27.6%) (p < 0.001). 3-year progression-free survival was 47% (95% CI 36-61)) in the HIPEC group and 27% (95% CI 17-43) in the control group - p = 0.0024. The N-stage, HIPEC procedure, type of surgery and interaction between HIPEC treatment and age were independent prognostic factors.

CONCLUSIONS

HIPEC appears to be helpful in improving treatment results in radically operated gastric cancer patients.

A proposal of Brazilian Society of Surgical Oncology (BSSO/SBCO) for standardizing cytoreductive surgery (CRS) plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) procedures in Brazil: pseudomixoma peritonei, appendiceal tumors and malignant peritoneal mesothelioma

Cytoreductive surgery plus hypertermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy has emerged as a major comprehensive treatment of peritoneal malignancies and is currently the standard of care for appendiceal epithelial neoplasms and pseudomyxoma peritonei syndrome as well as malignant peritoneal mesothelioma. Unfortunately, there are some worldwide variations of the cytoreductive surgery and hypertermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy techniques since no single technique has so far demonstrated its superiority over the others. Therefore, standardization of practices might enhance better comparisons between outcomes. In these settings, the Brazilian Society of Surgical Oncology considered it important to present a proposal for standardizing cytoreductive surgery plus hypertermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy procedures in Brazil, with a special focus on producing homogeneous data for the developing Brazilian register for peritoneal surface malignancies.

Pathway of peritoneal carcinomatosis maybe hematogenous metastasis rather than peritoneal seeding

Goals

This study aimed to summarize the clinicopathological data of the cases of gastric cancer or colon cancer with regular metastasis in the mesentery of small intestine and explore the pathway of peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Materials and methods

We retrospectively analyzed 5 cases of gastric cancer and 3 cases of colon cancer with regular metastasis in the mesentery of the small intestine from January 2014 to June 2016, including clinical information, gross manifestations during operation, treatment, and pathology.

Results

The clinical characteristics of all 8 cases were fully collected. The symptoms were various without specificity. All patients were found to present with metastasis in peritoneum during operation and the metastatic lesions arranged along the blood vessels orderly. The metastatic lesions of all studied patients were proved to be malignant carcinoma histopathologically, the same as the original tumor. Tumor emboli were seen in the vessel and invasive neoplastic foci was also seen in the vascular wall.

Conclusions

The traditional view that peritoneal carcinomatosis is due to seeding has no sufficient basis. Hematogenous metastasis maybe the real way of peritoneal carcinomatosis combined with clinical presentation.

Neoadjuvant intraperitoneal chemotherapy followed by radical surgery and HIPEC in patients with very advanced gastric cancer and peritoneal metastases: report of an initial experience in a western single center

Background

The association of preoperative systemic and intraperitoneal chemotherapy has been described in Eastern patients with very good outcomes in treatment responders. The aim of this paper is to describe the initial results of this multidisciplinary regimen in gastric cancer patients with very advanced peritoneal metastases.

Case presentation

We present here the first four cases who received the treatment protocol. They had a baseline PCI between 19 and 33. Two patients had received systemic chemotherapy prior to this regimen. Three of them had significant response and were taken to cytoreductive surgery, while one patient who had 12 cycles of chemotherapy previously showed signs of disease progression and subsequently died. There was no significant postoperative morbidity, and three patients remain alive, two of them with no signs of recurrence.

Conclusion

Systemic and intraperitoneal chemotherapy led to a marked response in peritoneal disease extent in our initial experience and allowed three of four patients with very advanced disease to be treated with cytoreductive surgery.

Cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion for the treatment of gastric cancer: A single-centre retrospective study

AIM

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemoperfusion (HIPEC) is the treatment regime most likely to achieve prolonged survival in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastroenteric cancer. To date, few publications have focused on the treatment of patients with gastric cancer alone. Several controversies remain unsolved, including the safety and effectiveness of the CRS-HIPEC combination regime, particularly in cases where HIPEC is used as adjuvant treatment after CRS. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of CRS combined with HIPEC in patients with gastric cancer.

METHOD

Data from 231 patients with a median age of 55.1 years treated with the CRS-HIPEC combination regime between January 2009 and December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. All patients underwent the combination therapy (mean of 2.4 cycles per patient, range, 1 to 4 cycles).

RESULTS

Median overall survival was 37.0 months, with 1-, 2- and 3-year survival rates recorded as 83.4%, 68.5%, and 38.7%, respectively. The serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199) were significantly decreased after combination therapy in the completeness of cytoreduction (CCR)-0 and CCR-1 groups, while no significant changes observed in marker levels were observed in the CC ≥2 group. The post-operative morbidity and mortality rates were 6.9% and 0.9%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed low TNM tumour stage, ascites condition and CCR score as independent predictors for better survival.

CONCLUSION

In view of the acceptable morbidity and mortality rates we propose that CRS combined with HIPEC presents an effective and safe treatment modality for patients with gastric cancer, especially in cases where optimal cytoreduction is achieved before the HIPEC procedure.

The role of HIPEC in the treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastric cancer: between lights and shadows

Gastric cancer is one of the most dreadful neoplastic diseases and remains the second cause of cancer death worldwide. Patients who develop peritoneal metastasis have a poor prognosis, with a median survival of less than 6 months. Despite being the cause of 60% of deaths from gastric cancer, peritoneal metastasis can still be considered a local disease and a local multidisciplinary approach can improve the prognosis even in this end-stage disease. At present, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is the most widely accepted treatment for peritoneal surface diseases and can be performed in patients with different stages of cancer and with various antitumoral drugs. We performed a systematic review of the current status of HIPEC in the treatment of gastric peritoneal metastasis in an attempt to obtain answers to the questions that still remain: do results differ with these different methods? Does HIPEC exert a significant effect on the intracavitary delivery of drugs? Which patients should be treated and which should not? What can we expect from this approach in terms of survival, morbidity, and mortality? On reviewing the literature, despite the lack of trials comparing the different methods, we found that HIPEC has been shown to be an effective tool whenever a complete or an almost complete resection of the peritoneal implants can be performed. Therefore, it is advisable to refer all at-risk patients to specialized centers to be enrolled in randomized trials to achieve truly reliable results.

Selection of chemotherapy for hyperthermic intraperitoneal use in gastric cancer

PURPOSE

Several studies have shown the potential benefit of cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in gastric cancer patients. At present the most effective chemotherapeutic regime in HIPEC for gastric cancer is unknown. The aim of this review was to provide a comprehensive overview of chemotherapeutic agents used for HIPEC in gastric cancer.

METHODS

A literature search was conducted using the PubMed database to identify studies on chemotherapy used for HIPEC in gastric cancer patients.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The chemotherapeutic regime of choice in HIPEC for gastric cancer has yet to be determined. The wide variety in studies and study parameters, such as chemotherapeutic agents, dosage, patient characteristics, temperature of perfusate, duration of perfusion, carrier solutions, intraperitoneal pressure and open or closed perfusion techniques, warrant more experimental and clinical studies to determine the optimal treatment schedule. A combination of drugs probably results in a more effective treatment.

Treatment of gastric cancer

The authors focused on the current surgical treatment of resectable gastric cancer, and significance of peri- and post-operative chemo or chemoradiation. Gastric cancer is the 4^th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Surgery remains the only curative therapy, while perioperative and adjuvant chemotherapy, as well as chemoradiation, can improve outcome of resectable gastric cancer with extended lymph node dissection. More than half of radically resected gastric cancer patients relapse locally or with distant metastases, or receive the diagnosis of gastric cancer when tumor is disseminated; therefore, median survival rarely exceeds 12 mo, and 5-years survival is less than 10%. Cisplatin and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy, with addition of trastuzumab in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive patients, is the widely used treatment in stage IV patients fit for chemotherapy. Recent evidence supports the use of second-line chemotherapy after progression in patients with good performance status

Peritoneal carcinomatosis of gastric origin: a population-based study on incidence, survival and risk factors

Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among patients with gastric cancer. The aim of the current study was to provide reliable population-based data on the incidence, risk factors and prognosis of PC of gastric origin. All patients diagnosed with gastric cancer in the area of the Eindhoven Cancer Registry between 1995 and 2011 were included. Incidence and survival were computed and risk factors for peritoneal carcinomatosis were determined using multivariate logistic regression analysis. In total, 5,220 patients were diagnosed with gastric cancer, of whom 2,029 (39%) presented with metastatic disease. PC was present in 706 patients (14%) of whom 491 patients (9%) had PC as the only metastatic site. Younger age (<60 years), female gender, advanced T- and N-stage, primary tumor of signet ring cells or linitis plastica and primary tumors covering multiple anatomical locations of the stomach were all associated with a higher odds ratios of developing PC. Median survival of patients without metastases was 14 months, but only 4 months for patients with PC. PC is a frequent condition in patients presenting with gastric cancer, especially in younger patients with advanced tumor stages. Given the detrimental influence of PC on survival, efforts should be undertaken to further explore the promising results that were obtained in preventing or treating this condition with multimodality strategies.