Therapeutic value of intraperitoneal hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion for patients with gastric cancer

To evaluate the prognostic factors of patients with gastric cancer invading the serosa, 14 factors (age, sex, maximum diameter of tumor, histologic type, growth pattern, lymph node status, lymphatic invasion, vascular invasion, surgical method, lymph node dissection, chemotherapy, expression of p53 protein, expression of p21 protein, and DNA ploidy pattern of tumor) were analyzed in 156 patients who underwent curative operation between 1983 and 1992. By multivariate survival analysis, 6 factors (maximum diameter of tumor, lymph node status, vascular invasion, lymph node dissection, expression of p53 protein, and expression of p21 protein) were found as independent prognostic factors. Although no statistically significant difference was observed, postoperative intraperitoneal hyperthermo-chemotherapy prolonged the survival rate of patients who had p21-positive tumors or that of patients who had dipoid tumors. These results indicate that tumors with expression of p21 protein or with DNA diploidy may be more sensitive to anti-cancer drugs than tumors without expression of p21 protein or with DNA aneuploidy.