OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively analyze the effect of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) on the progression free survival (PFS) of advanced gastric cancer (GC) and colorectal cancer (CRC).
METHOD: We retrospectively collected all the HIPEC data of GC and CRC in the Chongqing University Cancer Hospital from August 2018 to April 2023. Data were extracted from inpatient records and outpatient examination records. The IBM SPSS statistics 23.0 software was used to analyze the data. We mainly compared the PFS of HIPEC cases with that of non-HIPEC cases (both from our center and from the literature). PFS was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method. Log Rank (Mantel Cox), Breslow (Generalized Wilcoxon), and Tarone-Ware were used for univariate analyses.
RESULT: A total of 342 HIPEC cases were analyzed in this study. Stage IV GC and CRC accounted for 48.5% of the total number of cases. Abdominal pain and distension (47.4%) were the most common side effects from HIPEC. Serious complications were rare (1.8%, including bleeding, perforation, obstruction, and death). The PFS and disease-free survival (DFS) of abdominal malignancy treated with HIPEC were significantly associated with the TNM stage, but not HIPEC numbers nor HIPEC drugs. In stage IV HIPEC cases, adding adjuvant chemotherapy after HIPEC resulted in better PFS. In addition, the association between peritoneal carcinomatosis index (PCI) and PFS of stage IV HIPEC cases was close to significant. Compared with the 33 stage IV (with peritoneal metastases) GC cases without HIPEC in our center from the last 15 years, the PFS of the 56 stage Ⅳ GC cases with HIPEC was not improved significantly (median PFS: 6 ± 2.92 months vs 7 ± 1.63 months for with vs without HIPEC in stage IV GC, respectively; ≥ 0.05). Compared with the 58 stage IV (with peritoneal metastases) CRC cases without HIPEC in our center from the last 15 years, the PFS of the 86 stage IV CRC cases with HIPEC was not improved significantly either (median PFS: 7 ± 1.68 months vs 7 ± 0.62 months for with vs without HIPEC in stage IV CRC, respectively; ≥ 0.05). When comparing our HIPEC data with the non-HIPEC data reported by other scholars for the PFS of advanced GC and CRC, the negative results were similar.
CONCLUSION: The PFS/DFS of HIPEC cases was associated with the TNM stage, but not with the HIPEC numbers or HIPEC drugs. PCI may be related to the PFS of stage IV HIPEC cases. Adding chemotherapy or targeted therapy after HIPEC may improve the PFS of stage IV cases. HIPEC did not significantly improve the PFS of stage IV GC or CRC cases in our center.
