This research study aims to improve the treatment of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis (PC), a condition where cancer spreads within the abdomen. Patients with PC often experience significant pain and nutritional problems. Currently, there isn't a standard treatment approach, and doctors use different combinations of chemotherapy, surgery, and methods to deliver chemotherapy directly into the abdomen (intra-peritoneal or "IP" chemotherapy).
The study will compare two IP chemotherapy methods: HIPEC and PIPAC. HIPEC involves circulating heated chemotherapy through the abdomen during surgery, while PIPAC delivers chemotherapy as a pressurized aerosol during a laparoscopic procedure. Both methods aim to achieve the same goal, but they haven't been directly compared to see which is safer, more tolerable, more effective, and provides better value.
Males or females age 18 to 80 years.
Biopsy-proven or clinically suspected peritoneal carcinomatosis
Receipt of at least three months of standard systemic chemotherapy prior with persistence of disease at the time of randomization
Not a candidate for surgical cytoreduction at the time of laparoscopy
Patients who are eligible for definitive cytoreductive surgery at the time of enrollment
Any investigational drug use within 30 days prior to enrollment.
Systemic therapy within 14 days prior to randomization
Allergy or medical contra-indication to chemotherapy utilized in this study
Patrick Wagner, MD, FACS
Lead sponsor
Allegheny Singer Research Institute (also known as Allegheny Health Network Research Institute)
Sponsor institution