Treatment of peritoneal metastases from small bowel adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Peritoneal metastases (PM) affect approximately one third of patients with metastatic small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA). Treatment options are (1) systemic therapy ± palliative surgery and (2) cytoreductive surgery with intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS + IPC). Due to scarce evidence, PM from SBA represents a therapeutic challenge. This narrative review summarised and discussed the evidence that investigated available treatment options.

METHODS

Studies were discussed if they investigated first line systemic therapy for advanced SBA or CRS + IPC for PM from SBA. Extracted outcomes were objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS), disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and grade III-V toxicity/morbidity.

RESULTS

Eighteen studies (15 observational, 3 phase II) that investigated systemic therapy and six observational studies that investigated CRS + IPC were reviewed. In studies that investigated systemic therapy, ORR, DCR, median PFS, median OS, and grade III-V toxicity ranged from 6% to 50%, 50% to 90%, 3 to 11 months, 8 to 20 months, and 10% to 68%, respectively. Fluoropyrimidine-oxaliplatin revealed favourable survival outcomes compared to fluoropyrimidine-irinotecan, fluoropyrimidine-cisplatin, fluoropyrimidine monotherapy, and other regimens. In studies that investigated CRS + IPC, median DFS, median OS, and grade III-V morbidity ranged from 10 to 12 months, 16 to 47 months, and 12% to 35%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Based on available evidence, fluoropyrimidine-oxaliplatin should be regarded as optimal first line systemic treatment. In selected patients, CRS + IPC appears safe and may be more effective than systemic therapy as single treatment. Future studies should evaluate survival and morbidity of CRS + IPC in larger cohorts, as well as the value of chemotherapy with targeted agents in metastatic SBA with subgroup analysis for PM from SBA.