Intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy with cisplatin in epithelial ovarian cancer

OBJECTIVE: To assess retrospectively the feasibility of intraoperative intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy with cisplatin in epithelial ovarian cancer. METHODS: IP chemotherapy during optimal staging surgery was performed in 10 patients who were diagnosed with primary epithelial ovarian cancers between April 2008 and February 2011. Cisplatin (70 mg/m(2) in 1 L normal saline solution) was administered in the abdominal cavity for 24 hours postoperatively and then adjuvant chemotherapy was started 2-4 weeks after surgery. Perioperative toxicity of the combined treatment was evaluated until the initiation of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: A total of 23 adverse events were observed in 9 of 10 patients (grade 1, 7; grade 2, 13; grade 3, 3; grade 4, 0). In descending order of frequency, adverse events affected the gastrointestinal system (n=14), hematologic system (n=6), pulmonary system (n=2), and genito-urinary system (n=1). The adverse events did not affect adjuvant systemic chemotherapy schedules. One patient experienced disease recurrence in the liver 16 months after surgery. The remaining 9 patients have been well controlled by chemotherapy and/or observation during the follow-up period of 4 to 39 months after surgery. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative IP chemotherapy with cisplatin during surgical procedures is considered feasible for the treatment of primary epithelial ovarian cancer. Further studies, including long-term, prospective and comparative trials, are needed to validate the efficacy of this combined therapy.