The prevention and treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastric cancer: A 2013 update

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in the world. Penetration of the gastric serosa and lymphatic spread are the two most important factors affecting prognosis in gastric cancer. Patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastric cancer show a particularly poor prognosis. A few treatment strategies have been tested and proposed to increase survival rates. The cornerstone of treatment remains complete cytoreductive surgery associated with a different combination of chemotherapy regimen. It has been demonstrated as systemic adjuvant, systemic neoadjuvant and above all hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy improve the survival, when used in the prevention and treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis from gastric cancer. Few new molecules have been introduced enhancing the effect of chemotherapy by biologically targeting its objective. However further studies are needed.