Role of multi-modality therapy in peritoneal carcinomatosis and visceral metastasis: a case report and review of the literature

INTRODUCTION: Treatment for advanced stage colorectal cancer with synchronous peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) and hepatic metastasis (HM) has progressed significantly over the past 10 years. CASE REPORT: We present the case of a 39-year-old female patient with stage IV colorectal cancer with bilateral HM, pulmonary oligometastatic disease, and diffuse PC who underwent hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) and complete cytoreductive surgery (CRS) for her intra-abdominal disease. The patient had an uneventful immediate post-operative recovery, and subsequently tolerated multiple cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy and percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of pulmonary lesions. At her 22-month follow-up assessment, the patient remains alive with disease. CONCLUSION: Current recommendations for surgical management of synchronous colorectal cancer PC and HM indicate that patients with less than three HMs, a low peritoneal cancer index (PCI), and good functional status will benefit most from CRS and HIPEC. Our patient had an elevated PCI of 12 as measured by computed tomography imaging, and five HMs (all less than 3 cm in size); however, given that her life expectancy on systemic chemotherapy was estimated to be approximately 12 months, we have observed carefully selected patients to benefit from an aggressive multi-modality approach. This case report demonstrates an all too common scenario for surgeons managing patients with advanced CRC, and highlights the importance of patient selection for surgical management as part of multidisciplinary cancer care in this patient population.