Background: The objective of the current study was to evaluate the toxicities and treatment response of intraoperative hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.
Methods: Intraoperative HIPEC (cisplatin 75 mg/m(2), 41.5 degrees C, 90 min) was performed in 30 patients with residual tumor of <1 cm after cytoreductive surgery between January 2007 and February 2008. All the patients received adjuvant chemotherapy with combination platinum and taxane. Adverse events and responses to primary treatment were evaluated and scored as follows: grade I, observation; grade II, medical treatment; grade III, intervention; and grade IV, reoperation or admission to the intensive care unit.
Results: No deaths or grade IV morbidities were observed. One hundred seven adverse events were identified in 30 patients (grade I, 40; grade II, 46; grade III, 21). The most common adverse events affected the hematologic system (n = 26), followed by the gastrointestinal system (n = 23). Most adverse events were anemias requiring transfusion and nausea/vomiting requiring medication. Twenty-eight patients (93%) experienced complete remission, and two patients (7%) had progressive disease.
Conclusion: HIPEC after extensive cytoreductive surgery for ovarian cancer is a procedure with acceptable morbidity that patients can tolerate. More follow-up is needed to determine the effect of HIPEC on survival.