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Peritoneal carcinomatosis is often considered a point of no return in the management of digestive tumors. The natural history of digestive carcinomatosis shows that the spontaneous evolution of this disease is dark with an average survival of about six months, regardless of the primitive site. The precise knowledge of the anatomy of the peritoneum and a better understanding of its physiopathology have made it possible to modify somewhat the prognosis of this pathology by considering it not as a true metastasis, but as a loco-regional disease that can be treated as such. This approach led to the development, especially under the leadership of Paul H. Sugarbaker at the Washington Cancer Institute, of cytoreductive surgery with intraperitoneal chemohyperthermy techniques that made this disease treatable in selected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]