Treatment of implanted peritoneal cancer in rats by continuous hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion in combination with an anticancer drug.

To study the feasibility of combined hyperthermic and anticancer drug treatment for peritoneal cancer, we devised a continuous hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion system in combination with mitomycin C. The model uses i.p.-transplantable rat ascites hepatoma 100B cells. Hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion alone or combined with mitomycin C was performed after i.p. inoculation of the tumor cells into rats. In rats treated with combined peritoneal perfusion (41.5 degrees) and mitomycin C, the mean survival times were significantly prolonged as compared to those of rats treated with peritoneal perfusion at 41.5 degrees alone. Our results suggest that combined hyperthermic peritoneal perfusion and mitomycin C treatment may represent a therapeutic and prophylactic treatment for peritoneal metastasis after gastric cancer surgery in humans.