Background: The objective of the present meta-analysis was to analyze the survival outcomes of patients with colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis (CRPC), with particular focus on cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and perioperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (PIC).
Methods: A search was conducted on Medline from 1950 to February 2009 and Pubmed from 1950 to February 2009 for original studies on CRS with PIC. All articles included in this study were assessed with the application of predetermined selection criteria. Results regarding the overall survival in the meta-analysis were expressed as hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals.
Results: Forty-seven manuscripts were selected in the present systematic review, including 4 comparative studies and 43 observational studies of CRS with PIC. From the meta-analysis, it can be seen that a significant improvement in survival was associated with treatment by CRS and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy compared with palliative approach (P < 0.0001). The pooled data did not show a significant improvement in overall survival for patients treated by CRS and early postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy versus surgery and systemic chemotherapy (P = 0.35). The overall effect of PIC is significantly better than the control group (P = 0.0002). The current literature suggests that patients with liver metastasis amendable to resection should not be excluded from CRS and PIC. However, there is a need for further evaluation of the prognostic significance of lymph node and liver involvement, ideally in large prospective trials.
Conclusions: The meta-analysis showed that combined therapy involving CRS and PIC had a statistically significant survival benefit over control groups.