Treatment and prevention of peritoneal carcinomatosis from colorectal cancer.

PC from colorectal cancer is a terminal illness for which intravenous chemotherapy is the current standard treatment. However, a recent Dutch randomized study established the efficacy of maximal cytoreductive surgery plus IPCH to achieve statistically significant prolonged survival of these patients. In the near future, improvements of IPCH techniques and progress in selecting patients by radiologic imaging, by molecular biologic studies or further refinement of quantitative prognostic indicators will permit better results. Prospective studies must be conducted in the prevention of carcinomatosis in well-defined high-risk patients.