Published online Jul 21, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i27.3484
Peer-review started: March 1, 2019
First decision: April 5, 2019
Revised: May 20, 2019
Accepted: June 22, 2019
Article in press: June 23, 2019
Published online: July 21, 2019
Processing time: 142 Days and 14 Hours
The peritoneum is a common site of dissemination for colorrectal cancer, with a poorer prognosis than other sites of metastases. In the last two decades, it has been considered as a locoregional disease progression and treated as such with curative intention treatments. Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is the actual reference treatment for these patients as better survival results have been reached as compared to systemic chemotherapy alone, but its therapeutic efficacy is still under debate. Actual guidelines recommend that the management of colorectal cancer with peritoneal metastases should be led by a multidisciplinary team carried out in experienced centers and consider CRS + HIPEC for selected patients. Accumulative evidence in the last three years suggests that this is a curative treatment that may improve patients disease-free survival, decrease the risk of recurrence, and does not increase the risk of treatment-related mortality. In this review we aim to gather the latest results from referral centers and opinions from experts about the effectiveness and feasibility of CRS + HIPEC for treating peritoneal disease from colorectal malignancies.
Core tip: Patients with peritoneal metastases from colorectal cancer have classically been associated with limited survival and treated only with palliative surgery and systemic support. Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, often combined with systemic treatment, are increasingly performed with a curative intent for well-selected patients. Recent data suggests an important improvement of overall and disease-free survival for these patients. This article aims to review the state of art for the management of peritoneal metastases from colorectal origin and to confine the latest experts’ consensus and future directives.