Peritoneal carcinomatosis from appendiceal cancer: results in 69 patients treated by cytoreductive surgery and intraperitoneal chemotherapy

Abstract

Sixty-nine patients presenting over a 10-year period with peritoneal carcinomatosis from appendiceal cancer were treated with cytoreductive surgery combined with intraperitoneal chemotherapy. The three-year survival is 89.5 percent in patients (38/69) with pseudomyxoma peritonei, 34.5 percent in patients (25/69) with cystadenocarcinoma, and 38.1 percent in patients (6/69) with adenocarcinoma (P < 0.01). In this study, a classification of residual disease following the cytoreductive surgery was used. The prognosis of the patients with minimal residual disease was better than that of those with moderate or gross disease, showing a 91.6 percent three-year survival compared with 47.8 percent and 20 percent, respectively (P < 0.01). The patients without lymphatic or hematogenous metastases had a better three-year survival than those with metastases (75.1 percent vs. 28.6 percent; P < 0.01). These findings suggest that peritoneal carcinomatosis from appendiceal cancer can be treated with long-term disease-free survival. The patients with low malignant potential cancer, complete cytoreduction, and no metastases showed the most effective disease control.