Background and objectives: Serosa-infiltrating gastric cancer poses a high risk for peritoneal recurrence. This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of preoperative intraperitoneal (i.p.) chemotherapy for such cancer.
Methods: Patients with serosa-infiltrating tumors, diagnosed by conventional examinations as well as by staging laparoscopy, were enrolled in this study. Those with unresectable T4 tumors, visible peritoneal metastasis or distant organ metastasis were excluded. Twenty-five eligible patients received preoperative i.p. chemotherapy, which consisted of i.p. injection of 20 mg of mitomycin C on day 1 and 10 mg of cisplatin for 5 days, followed by surgery.
Results: Of the 25 patients, 24 underwent gastrectomy with lymph node dissection and 1 underwent palliative gastrojejunostomy. The curability of the surgery was curability A in 6, B in 16, and C in 3. Preoperative T stages (T3 in 21 and T4 in 4) were downstaged postoperatively (T1 in 1, T2 in 10, T3 in 11, and T4 in 3). The 1- and 2-year overall survival was 83.3 and 51.3%, respectively. The median survival time was 24.4 months. The toxicity of the preoperative treatment was tolerable and no serious postoperative complication was seen.
Conclusions: Preoperative i.p. chemotherapy seems to be a safe and effective therapy for serosa-infiltrating gastric cancer. Randomized clinical trials comparing preoperative i.p. chemotherapy followed by surgery and surgery alone are needed.