Blood & Cancer

Researchers are conducting the first U.S. trial of pressurized intraperitoneal aerosolized chemotherapy (PIPAC) for the treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis in patients with gynecologic or gastrointestinal cancers. Coprincipal investigator Thanh H. Dellinger, MD, of City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., describes this trial and the PIPAC procedure to host David H. Henry, MD, in this episode. To start, the pair discuss a patient who might be eligible for PIPAC – one with stage 3 ovarian cancer. General approach to stage 3 ovarian cancer Therapy typically includes a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. The order in which chemotherapy is given, either pre- or postoperatively, depends on performance status and whether patients have extra-abdominal disease or parenchymal liver disease. Operative approaches, including debulking surgery, are pursued if believed to be optimal, meaning all gross residual disease can be resected. If all residual disease cannot be resected, patients are offered neoadjuvant chemotherapy