Intraperitoneal chemotherapy for locally advanced gastric cancer to prevent and treat peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the leading causes of cancer death in both sexes in the world. The overall survival (OS) of GC patients is still unsatisfactory. The peritoneal dissemination is the most common type of recurrence in advanced GC. The rationale for administering chemotherapeutic drugs directly into peritoneal cavity is supported by the relative transport barrier that is formed by the tissue surrounding the peritoneal space. Intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy with taxanes is safe and feasible. Further randomized phase III clinical trials are needed to validate IP chemotherapy with taxanes for peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) from GC. Adjuvant hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) used as prophylaxis against peritoneal recurrence in patients with high risk GC is safe, significantly improves the survival and reduces the risk of peritoneal recurrence. A drug delivery system with anticancer drugs seem to be have a pharmacokinetic advantage but further randomized clinical trials are needed to validate its effect.