Gastric cancer with the development of peritoneal metastasis (cancer that has spread to the peritoneum) can be an incapacitating disease with poor survival outcome. This disease is usually treated with systemic chemotherapy. However, the presence of the peritoneal-plasma barrier can prevent the accumulation of chemotherapeutic drugs at levels sufficient to eliminate tumours in the peritoneum, reducing the efficacy of the treatment. To address the limitations associated with current treatment regimes, the authors, led by Prof Jimmy So and Dr Yong Wei Peng, tested the combination of systemic chemotherapy (oral Capecitabine and intravenous Oxaliplatin) with the direct injection of the chemotherapeutic drug, Paclitaxel, into the peritoneal cavity (intraperitoneal chemotherapy with Paclitaxel). Results from their study demonstrate the safety of the treatment regime and suggest that the regime improves survival compared to systemic chemotherapy alone. Overall, their findings show the promise of the treatment proposed and warrant a phase III study to verify the results obtained thus far.

Read more: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1245/s10434-022-11998-z