Surgery for colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis occurs in patients with advanced gastrointestinal and gynecological malignancies and also in patients who experience recurrence after treatment failure of the primary tumor. Malignant disease in the peritoneal cavity is a morbid and significant predictor of a diminished survival in a cancer patient. Systemic chemotherapy alone will not be adequate to palliate or treat patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. Cytoreductive surgery is a new surgical technique that is performed using peritonectomy procedures to allow total eradication of peritoneal tumors. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy regimens such as intraoperative hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and early postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (EPIC) are effective adjuvant treatment to treat the minimal residual disease after cytoreductive surgery to reduce the risk of locoregional recurrence. A substantial body of evidence available in the current literature has documented the survival benefits of combining cytoreductive surgery and intraperitoneal chemotherapy to treat a previously fatal phase of malignancy. This review provides a summary of the developments in the understanding and treatment of peritoneal surface malignancy from colorectal cancer.