Applied in intra-abdominal cancers

Cancer, from unhealthy eating habits to a life full of mistakes; It comes across more and more people every day for many reasons, from smoking to stress. On the other hand, developments in cancer treatment raise hopes. In case of early diagnosis, some types of cancer can even be classified as ‘chronic diseases’, while methods are being developed to increase survival at the last stage. Hot chemotherapy is a prominent treatment method in the world in recent years. ‘Hot chemotherapy’, which is activated in the last stage of tumors that have spread into the abdomen, can double or even triple the life expectancy of patients.

How does it affect cancers?

In cancers that spread to the peritoneum surface such as colon, stomach, ovary, appendicitis cancer, after all visible cancers are removed, the abdomen is washed with ‘heated chemotherapy’ for approximately 1-1.5 hours after surgery. This washing affects cancer cells that are not visible microscopically. Cancers that have spread to the peritoneum benefit from this treatment, and the patient can live without serious disease and have long survival times. Studies show that hot chemotherapy increases life expectancy at least 2-3 times in large intestine tumors that have spread to the peritoneum. Again, scientific studies reveal that while the average life expectancy in appendicitis tumors is 2-3 years in patients who normally only receive chemotherapy, it can extend up to 5-7 or even 11 years after hot chemotherapy. Hot chemotherapy, which is activated at the point where hope is lost in the last stage of cancer, requires a long surgical operation period, although it varies according to the extent of the disease. While this period may sometimes increase to 10-12 hours, the patient’s life span, which is cut from days to days, may extend to years. If recurrence develops during follow-up, hot chemotherapy can be applied two or three times.

Who can be treated with hot chemotherapy?

In the treatment of tumors that have spread into the abdomen, good results are obtained when applied together with hot chemotherapy, cytoreductive surgery, that is, the procedure that reduces the number of tumor cells. However, not every patient is suitable for hot chemotherapy. Before the operation, there should be no spread to distant organs such as lungs and bones. The intra-abdominal state of the disease and previous treatments (such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy) are discussed in a multidisciplinary environment and applied to patients who can benefit. Because the operation time is long, it is a more risky operation for the patient compared to other tumor surgeries. Therefore, the selection of patients to be treated with hot chemotherapy should be done carefully.