Intraperitoneal administration of cisplatin and etoposide during surgery for patients with gastric cancer

Intraperitoneal chemotherapy has been attempted to treat peritoneal seeding in patients with gastric cancer. In this study, 13 patients with far advanced gastric cancer were given a complex chemotherapy regimen, cisplatin and etoposide, intraperitoneally during surgery. Cisplatin and etoposide was given 100 mg/body (58-90 mg/m2) and 200 mg/body (115-180 mg/m2), respectively, before closing the abdominal wall. There was one operative death who had an unresectable gastric cancer and died due to respiratory insufficiency, probably related to the drugs. There were no critical side effects due to the drugs among patients who underwent gastrectomy. Postoperative complications encountered were 2 cases of leukopenia, 2 of vomiting, 2 of renal impairment and 1 of liver dysfunction. These complications were transient and limited. The median survival duration was 7.0 months in this study. Thus, intraperitoneal cisplatin and etoposide should be examined for clinical use in larger scale trials.