Have a question

Buzzard said:

let me try again......I had something but it didn't paste in ...
lemme try it again......

What is HIPEC?

Ask the Expert
Dr. Hanna’s Bio Image

Get answers to your Peritoneal Cancer and HIPEC questions.
Ask Dr. Hanna

Dr. Hanna’s Bio | Q&A Archive
Note: This is for informational purposes only. Doctors cannot provide a diagnosis or individual treatment advice via e-mail. Please consult your physician about your specific health care concerns.



Hyperthermic interperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is a technique used to treat gastrointestinal cancers and sarcomas that have spread to the lining of the abdomen.

HIPEC is done in combination with surgery, and involves using a using a heated chemotherapy solution that is circulated throughout the abdominal cavity while the patient is in the operating room.

Following surgery to remove any visible tumors, the patient is connected to a series of catheters and a pumping device that bathes the entire abdominal cavity with the chemotherapy drugs for approximately two hours.

The high temperature of the solution has been found to increase the drug's therapeutic effect. The fluid goes throughout the abdomen to treat any tumor cells that may remain after surgery. Both heat and direct contact with chemotherapy drugs kills the cancer cells.

Read our Patient Success Stories.
What are the benefits of HIPEC?

Clinical studies have shown HIPEC to be significantly more effective than surgery alone for GI cancers that have spread to the abdomen. Combined with tumor removal, HIPEC can improve survival and quality of life for patients who would otherwise have few if any options. The technique has also been shown to reduce pain dramatically.
HIPEC Expertise

The University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center was one of the first medical centers in the nation to offer the HIPEC procedure. Our cancer surgeons and other GI oncology experts work together closely throughout the treatment process to provide:

* a highly individualized treatment plan for each patient;
* the latest technology currently available;
* complex, aggressive therapies, including clinical trials; and
* immediate access to care.

Crow71 said:

I am a HIPECTITE
Buzz gave you a great place to start - U of Maryland.
I had my surgery done by Dr. Shen at Wake Forest.
I went to Sloan for a 2nd opinion this time last year. They do not do the surgery, but refer people to Pitt. There are plenty of places that do it. You need to be very comfortable with the facility and surgeon. I'm always willing to answer questions.

HIPEC is a procedure that involves bathing the peritoneal/abdominal cavity in warm chemo. Sounds fun right? First the surgeon will do cytoreductive surgery on the peritoneum. My surgeon basically stripped the entire peritoneal lining and cut out anything that looked suspicious. The reason for HIPEC is that standard IV chemo doesn't get to peritoneal mets very well. Not many veins in that area. Dr. Shen and others are getting better 5 year survival rates all the time.

During the surgery, Shen also ablated and cut out tumors in my liver, took out a foot or so of rectum and colon, took down the colostomy and built and ileostomy. It took a while to recover from. the worst part of recovery was that my wound got infected. For several months we could see bowel and liver in the bottom of my wound. I'm the only one I know who has touched his own liver. That's awesome!!!

I would probably do HIPEC again, but I learned last week that the peritoneal mets are back. (Liver and lung mets came back after a few months.) Perhaps the surgery was a failure, perhaps it did all that could be done.

Roger

Crow71 said:

Hey Dawn,
I'll give you the
Hey Dawn,
I'll give you the longish version. I was diagnosed by colonoscopy. CT scan showed little spots in the lungs and some stuff in my liver. I remember someone saying something about peritoneal mets, but you are right. They don't show up well on scans. Stage IV. The plan was to zap the primary, which was a gelatinous mess, with radiation, do a little chemo as well and then resect. My medical onc insisted that I get an MRI of my liver so we would know for sure what was going on in there. I'm not sure why, but there is something about an MRI that gives you a clearer picture of the liver. I haven'y had one since. Now that we know for sure that the spots on the liver are cancer, I only have CTs. The MRI showed my liver to be in much worse shape than was thought. My onc laid out some options. I always go for what I believe is the most aggressive treatment. I was 38 and very healthly otherwise at the time. I opted for skipping radiation, performing a colostomy to eliminate the chance of of an emergency blockage (the tumor was large) and doing a massive and systemic treatment of Folfox.

Here's where it gets bad, or worse I guess. THe colorectal surgeon who built my colostomy drove the little camera around my peritoneal lining and confirmed the presence of mets.

That's how I knew I had peritoneal mets.

Let me know if can answer anymore questions.

Roger

traci43 said:

I too have had HIPEC
I had HIPEC for mets to the peritoneum in June 2009. The only mets found during surgery were three mets in the omentum that was left from the previous surgery. Unlike others, all three mets showed up on the PET Scan and the biggest was less than an inch. The first surgery involved removing a bit of colon, the omentum (3-5 mets in there), my ovaries (one was 5 lbs! and full of cancer) and uterus (no cancer there).

HIPEC went very well for me and I was scraping wall paper 4 weeks later. Unfortunately my cancer has returned. I would be so willing to do HIPEC again, but the two doctors I've consulted are against it. If chemo does not go well, I'll be trying to see Dr. Levine or Dr. Esquivel for a third or fourth opinion.

This is major surgery and I would not do it unless necessary. Surgery is a minimum of 10 hours and you are in ICU on a ventilator for 2 days. They pump you full of saline to flush out the chemo and you look like the Michelin man for a few days. My doc gave me a tunnel epidural which was in for 7 days giving me constant pain meds. It worked like a dream and I did not have to have pain meds after it came out.