Feasibility study of postoperative intraperitoneal hyperthermochemotherapy by radiofrequency capacitive heating system for advanced gastric cancer with peritoneal seeding.
BACKGROUND
Gastric carcinoma patients with peritoneal dissemination have an extremely poor prognosis. Attempting to improve regional control and decrease the risk of complications related to hyperthermic chemotherapy, we applied a new treatment modality using a combination of gastrectomy with postoperative intraperitoneal hyperthermo-chemotherapy (PIHC) using Thermotron RF-8. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of PIHC in advanced gastric carcinoma patients with peritoneal seeding.


METHODS
Between March 2002 and April 2006, 20 gastric carcinoma patients with peritoneal dissemination were allocated to two groups in the patient's selection. The PIHC group (10 patients) received a 60-min PIHC with a cisplatin dose of 80 mg/m2 two weeks after surgery, and the control group (10 patients) received surgery alone. Thermotron RF-8 is a heating device that can raise temperatures in both superficial and deep-seated tumours using 8 MHz radiofrequency electromagnetic waves as a source of heat.


RESULTS
No patients in either group had life-threatening complications. The most frequent nonhaematologic toxicity (grade 3) was nausea. The one-, two-, and three-year cumulative survival rates for the PIHC group were 60%, 48%, and 36%, respectively, whereas those for the control group were 40%, 10%, and 0%, respectively. The survival rates for the PIHC group were significantly higher than those for the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
Although this study was conducted non-randomly with a small number of patients, the PIHC group had a higher survival rate and better prognosis compared with the control group.
Mochiki
Erito
E
Gunma University, General Surgical Science, Maebashi, Japan. emochiki@showa.gunma-u.ac.jp
Shioya
Mariko
M
Sakurai
Hideyuki
H
Andoh
Hiroyuki
H
Ohno
Tetsuro
T
Aihara
Ryusuke
R
Asao
Takayuki
T
Kuwano
Hiroyuki
H
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009366:Neoplasm Seeding; D010534:Peritoneal Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy*; D000078702:Radiofrequency Therapy; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*