It Is What the Surgeon Does Not See That Kills the Patient

Patients with colon cancer may present at multiple different stages of the disease process. Many patients can be cured of colon cancer as a result of a simple surgical procedure usually performed by minimally invasive techniques. However, there are a variable number of patients, estimated at approximately 10%, who have a more advanced disease. If these patients are treated by the current conventional standard of care, the likelihood for treatment failure is extremely high.

These are not patients with known disseminated disease but patients who are at high risk of recurrent disease unless special treatments are initiated preoperatively and intraoperatively. The identification of these patients is by (1) a high-quality CT scan, (2) tumor markers found preoperatively, (3) colonoscopic findings, and (4) symptoms.

Patients identified as being at high risk require special preoperative treatments which include neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Intraoperative chemotherapy with HIPEC should occur as part of the treatment if peritoneal metastases are documented by biopsy. In the operating room, a thorough exploration of all possible occult peritoneal spaces for metastatic disease needs to be performed. A modified cytoreductive surgical procedure along with a colon resection is performed in order to minimize sites of occult peritoneal metastases. This includes the greater omentum, ovaries, and tubes in postmenopausal women. Peritonectomy is used to create a shroud around the tumor so that all peritoneum that has been in direct contact with the tumor surface is resected and is used as a barrier against tumor cell dissemination in the process of colon cancer resection. If peritoneal metastases are visualized at any site, HIPEC should be included as part of the treatment package.

I am convinced that patients at high risk of recurrence will have an improved outcome with proper preoperative evaluation, preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and a revised intraoperative management strategy.