Heated-Chemotherapy Technique Being Used to Help Some Patients

A heated-chemotherapy treatment developed in France is being used by doctors at handful of hospitals in the U.S. and Canada to successfully treat some patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis, a lethal condition that sometimes arises from colorectal cancer.

The treatment, called hypothermic chemotherapy, was developed at the Institut Gustave-Roussy in Paris. After a surveon opens the abdomen of the patients and removes all traces of cancer, two chemotherapy drugs are pumped inside, bathing the internal organs for up to 45 minutes in liquid heated to 44 degrees Celsius.

Patients who undergo conventional treatment for peritoneal carcinomatosis, in which chemotherapy drugs are administered intravenously over a period of days, ultimately have a relapse after a couple of years.

But Dr. Pierre Dube, a surgical oncologist at Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital in Montreal, said about one-third of those treated with hypothermic chemotherapy remain cancer free after several years.

Dube said that pumping the chemotherapy drugs directly to the site allows for a greater concentration, and "when you heat the chemicals, they are more effective in killing the cancer cells. They are better able to penetrate the cancer cells.''

The complex procedure, however, carries a 5 to 10 per cent risk of death, and more than half of all patients suffer from fever, abdominal infections and other complications during recovery.

Other Sources: Maisonneuve-Rosemont