HIPEC surgery

HIPEC
Hi there.. and welcome to this board. You don't say what type of peritoneal cancer your wife has, but before I answer your question, I'd just like to say that I do understand what your wife is going through because I've been there (and am there)myself. Although HIPEC is carried out in quite a few centres around the world, it's still a relatively new technique and not the norm in terms of treatment for this condition. Once PPC is diagnosed, debulking usually takes place so that as many organs in the abdomen that we don't really need are taken out. That's how I understand things and it makes management of the disease a little easier. The usual follow-on (but sometimes it takes place prior to surgery too) is chemotherapy. The drug will depend on the actual cell type. HIPEC is given at the time that the debulking surgery takes place and is a kind of bath so that the cells are bathed in the fluid which means that the medicine gets to the parts it may not do using usual IV chemo. It's all new as I've said and the results so far have been encouraging. I couldn't have the technique because I already have had a lot of the organs which would have been taken out during debulking, removed and to take yet more surgery would be silly for someone in my case who has had many other surgeries due to other conditions. The technique was designed by Dr. Sugarbaker and is known as the Sugarbaker method. For me, taking an active interest in how I'm treated has helped. I know in the not too distant future, the management of this disease will improve considerably as it has over the past few years. Healing thoughts to you and your family. :}

abrub said:

I had Intra Peritoneal (IP) chemo, but not heated
My surgeon had hoped that all of my cancer was removed at the "finding" surgery, and had planned an exploratory surgery with placement of a belly port for administration of IP chemo. Unfortunately, there was more cancer, so I had a major debulking and then placement of the belly port. I subsequently had 5 cycles of IP chemo, starting 24 hours after surgery. At Memorial Sloan Kettering, they are not convinced that the heated IP chemo during surgery has an advantage over multiple sessions of non-heated IP chemo. My primary was appendix cancer, with extensive peritoneal mets.

5 years later, I'm doing great.

HIPEC for peritoneal mesothelioma
My husband will begin his 2nd round of chemo on Friday. He did well on his first round w/cisplatin chemo. and his blood cells are at normal range. Depending on the CT results after his 3rd round, he plans to have the HIPEC surgery w/Dr. Gary Mann at the U of W Medical Ctr. I'm happy to know that you are doing great after 5 years! Blessings to all!

abrub said:

I had Intra Peritoneal (IP) chemo, but not heated
My surgeon had hoped that all of my cancer was removed at the "finding" surgery, and had planned an exploratory surgery with placement of a belly port for administration of IP chemo. Unfortunately, there was more cancer, so I had a major debulking and then placement of the belly port. I subsequently had 5 cycles of IP chemo, starting 24 hours after surgery. At Memorial Sloan Kettering, they are not convinced that the heated IP chemo during surgery has an advantage over multiple sessions of non-heated IP chemo. My primary was appendix cancer, with extensive peritoneal mets.

5 years later, I'm doing great.

HIPEC for peritoneal mesothelioma
My husband will begin his 2nd round of chemo on Friday. He did well on his first round w/cisplatin chemo. and his blood cells are at normal range. Depending on the CT results after his 3rd round, he plans to have the HIPEC surgery w/Dr. Gary Mann at the U of W Medical Ctr. I'm happy to know that you are doing great after 5 years! Blessings to all!

HIPEC
My boyfriend is suffering from Stage IV gastric cancer with peritoneal carcinomatosis. He went trough Subtotal Gastrectomy,Chemo and Radiation. Originally he was diagnosed with Stomach CA in July 2011. All treatment was finished in February 2012. On May 1st the PET scan showed NO cancer and we were so happy about it! However, this happiness was short-lived because at the end of May he started having problems with digesting his food; the food would stay and lay in his stomach until he had to throw it all up. Doctors tried many endoscopies and scans and said that the area where his stomach is connected to his small intestine was closed. So, apparently he had a recurrence of the cancer and this time the peritoneal area is involved. Now he gets all his feedings trough IV TPN. GI Doc was able to place two stents,but it makes no difference, he still can not eat anything. We have been from one hospital to another, from second opinion to third. In the beginning it was very promising that things would be okay and he would recover, but now the doctors don't want to do any surgery to clean the tumor and fix the blockage issue. We were hopping for HIPEC surgery,but it's all been turned down because the surgeon thinks his cancer is too advanced and therefore the surgery may not work. I read a lot of articles, saw videos about surgeons who performed this HIPEC surgery successfully, and this makes me belive that HIPEC is the only hope we have left. I don't know what to do anymore and how to help him! He gets continuous abdomen pain, like a bloating pain with nausea all the time, and only IV pain meds help for a short time before he needs to receive more.