Current Medical Care Situation of Patients in Germany Undergoing Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosol Chemotherapy (PIPAC)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The treatment of peritoneal surface malignancies has evolved differently from other fields in surgical oncology in the past decades and modern approaches were introduced into daily-routine. Curative as well as palliative surgical treatment options redefined the fate of patients with this aggressive disease. Nowadays, patients with a limited peritoneal tumor spread of colonic origin have comparable survival rates compared with colorectal liver and pulmonary metastases. After the failure of systemic chemotherapy, the application of PIPAC revolutionized the palliative treatment for these patients and recent results show a high histological response rates, an improvement in quality-of-life and, furthermore, a cost-reduction compared to systemic chemotherapy. The application of PIPAC in other disease-settings (neoadjuvant/adjuvant) needs to be defined in further clinical trials. ABSTRACT: Objective: Tailored approaches in gastrointestinal oncology have been more frequently introduced in past years and for patients with peritoneal metastases. This article attempts to overview the current strategies in surgical gastrointestinal oncology, with a focus on gastrointestinal peritoneal metastases. Methods: In 2019, all patients undergoing PIPAC therapy in Germany were retrospectively analyzed regarding morbidity and in-hospital mortality rates. Furthermore, patients with chemotherapy-refractory peritoneal metastases from gastric cancer undergoing PIPAC-therapy at our institution were analyzed. Results: In 2019, 534 patients received PIPAC treatment in german hospitals. The in-hospital mortality rate was 0%. In total, 36 patients suffered from postoperative complications (8%). From April 2016 to September 2021, a total of 44 patients underwent 93 PIPAC applications at our institution. The non-access-rate was 0%. The median PRGS was two (range, 1–4). Eleven patients (44%) showed histologically stable disease, whereas six patients (24%) showed histological regression. Median survival, calculated from the date of the first PIPAC application, was 181 days (range, 43–636 days). Conclusions: PIPAC is a safe and feasible procedure with a low in-hospital morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, PIPAC in the palliative and chemorefractory setting and is an appealing approach for patient management in the future.