Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer EDITORIAL COMMENT

Abstract

The majority of patients with ovarian cancer (OC) receive an initial diagnosis of advanced disease that has spread from the ovaries to the peritoneal surface. The most effective treatment for patients with advanced disease is cytoreductive surgery followed by systemic chemotherapy. As an alternative, interval cytoreductive surgery is performed after 3 cycles of chemotherapy. Following these treatments, the primary site of disease recurrence is the peritoneal surface. Delivery of chemotherapy by the intraperitoneal (IP) route enhances drug delivery at the peritoneal surface and eliminates residual microscopic peritoneal disease more efficiently than intravenous administration. Previous trials have shown that after primary cytoreductive surgery combined use of intravenous and IP chemotherapy results in longer overall survival among patients with stage III OC compared with intravenous administration alone. Combined intravenous/IP chemotherapy has several drawbacks that have hampered its adoption in many countries. These include catheter-related problems, increased demands on the patient, and gastrointestinal and renal adverse effects. Most of these drawbacks can be circumvented by delivery of the IP chemotherapy at the end of surgery. Delivery of IP chemotherapy during surgery under hyperthermic conditions—termed hyperthermic IP chemotherapy (HIPEC)—increases the penetration of chemotherapy at the peritoneal surface. Although addition of HIPEC to interval cytoreductive surgery is feasible in women with OC, efficacy data from randomized trials are lacking. This multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of interval cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC as compared with interval cytoreductive surgery without HIPEC in patients with stage III epithelial OC. Subjects were patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy who had at least stable disease after 3 cycles of carboplatin (area under the curve of 5–6 mg/mL per minute) and paclitaxel (175 mg/m2 of body surface area). Of these patients, 245 were randomized: 122 to the surgery-plus-HIPEC group and 123 to the surgery-without-HIPEC group. Randomization was performed at the time of surgery in cases in which surgery that would result in complete cytoreduction (no visible disease) or optimal cytoreduction (≥1 residual tumors measuring ≤10 mm in diameter) was deemed to be feasible. Patients received an additional 3 cycles of carboplatin and paclitaxel postoperatively. Recurrence-free survival was the primary study end point. Key secondary end points were overall survival and the side effect profile. Data for recurrence-free and overall survival were analyzed according to intention to treat. Among patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery, disease recurrence or death occurred in 89% (110/123) of patients in the surgery-without-HIPEC group and 81% (99/122) of patients in the surgery-plus-HIPEC group; the hazard ratio for disease recurrence or death was 0.66, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.50 to 0.87, P = 0.003. The median recurrence-free survival was 3.5 months longer in the surgery-plus-HIPEC group than in the surgery-without-HIPEC group (14.2 vs 10.7 months). At a median follow-up of 4.7 years, 62% (76/123) of patients in the surgery-without-HIPEC group and 50% (61/122) in the surgery-plus-HIPEC group had died (hazard ratio, 0.67; 95% confidence interval, 0.48–0.94; P = 0.02). There were no significant differences in the incidence of adverse events of any grade between the 2 groups (25% in the surgery-withoutHIPEC group and 27% in the surgery-plus-HIPEC group, P = 0.76)