Sites of Recurrence After Complete Cytoreduction and Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Patients with Peritoneal Carcinomatosis from Colorectal and Appendiceal Adenocarcinoma: A Tertiary Center Experience.

BACKGROUND

This report describes patterns of disease recurrence after optimal cytoreduction (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) of colorectal (CRC) and appendiceal adenocarcinoma (AC) origin.

METHODS

Patients undergoing optimal CRS/HIPEC (2007-2016) at the authors' institution were retrospectively reviewed from a prospectively maintained database. Data regarding disease recurrence were analyzed.

RESULTS

Of 74 patients who underwent CRS/HIPEC for PC from CRC (n = 46) or AC (n = 28), 49 (66%) had recurrence during a median follow-up period of 39.5 months. The sites of recurrence were peritoneal-only (n = 34, 69%), hematogenous-only (n = 6, 12%), and combined peritoneal and hematogenous (n = 9, 19%) sites. No patients with AC had hematogenous-only recurrence. The median disease-free survival (DFS) time for all the patients was 15 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 12.5-17.5 months). The recurrence rate after CRS/HIPEC was 41% at 1 year, 73% at 3 years, and 76% at 5 years. All the patients with hematogenous-only metastases experienced recurrence within 12 months after CRS/HIPEC. Mucinous or signet ring features predicted peritoneal recurrence (p = 0.041), whereas a complete cytoreduction of 1 was a predictor of early recurrence (p = 0.040). Patients who underwent repeat cytoreduction survived longer than those who received systemic chemotherapy alone. The median survival time after peritoneal-only recurrence was 33 months (95% CI 27.8-38.9 months).

CONCLUSION

Recurrence for patients with PC is common, even after optimal CRS/HIPEC. Hematogenous-only recurrence occurs early after CRS/HIPEC, suggesting occult disease at the time of treatment and highlighting the need for methods to identify micro-metastases and improve patient selection. Patients experiencing peritoneal-only recurrence had long survival period after CRS/HIPEC, suggesting its effectiveness at controlling peritoneal disease for a time.