Search

Local recurrences of intraperitoneal malignancies are mainly localized at the primary tumor site and the peritoneal surface. Surgical procedures alone are neither able to further reduce the development of local recurrence nor to treat the already established recurrent disease. In this situation intraperitoneal chemotherapy as an "adjuvant" treatment modality could be thought helpful. Experimental and clinical trials have shown that high doses of cytotoxic agents can be applied to the abdominal cavity with less systemic side effects. While the recent published data are not promising for gastrointestinal malignancies, they seem to be more encouraging for ovarian cancer.

In a group of 31 patients a port-a-cath-system for intraperitoneal chemotherapy was installed. From 23 evaluable patients 9 showed a tumor remission, but only 1 was a patient with gastrointestinal carcinoma. All others were patients with ovarial carcinoma. The median survival rate of all patients was 9 months after implantation of the intraperitoneal catheter. 50% of all patients with gastrointestinal carcinoma died within the first 6 months, only 1 of 11 patients with ovarial carcinoma died in this period.