Cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC in the treatment of peritoneal metastases of sarcomas and other rare malignancies

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in intraperitoneal dissemination of colorectal carcinoma, pseudomyxoma peritonei or gastric cancer is becoming standard practice. The evaluation of the effectiveness of such management in other cancers is still the subject of clinical trials. It is particularly difficult to assess the effectiveness of CRS and HIPEC in the treatment of intraperitoneal spread of rare types of malignancies such as sarcomas or small intestine cancer. The available, mainly retrospective, studies have been reviewed and discussed. They confirm the efficacy of cytoreductive procedures, especially if complete surgical cytoreduction (CC-0/1) has been achieved, however, the effectiveness of HIPEC requires further prospective studies.