The process is called intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy (IPHC) and is currently being considered as the new treatment for cancer patients. The patients undergoing this treatment are connected to a series of tubes and a pump that will inject heated chemotherapy drugs inside the abdominal cavity for a couple of houirs.
The higher temperature increases the efficacy of the drug while the direct contact helps kill the carcinogenic cells.A trial was performed under Dr. Y Yoshida of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Fukui, Japan to test the efficiency and over-all survival of patients with advanced ovarian cancer who had been administered with IPHC. Ten people with ovarian cancer and treated with IPHC were studied.
The procedure was applicable and had controllable toxicity. The overall results showed significant improvement on patients on whom the procedure was applied. These people were also treated with standard medication for treatment of cancer as well. The rate of survival was more for patients with IPHC than patients undergoing standard course of treatment only.
The procedure is showing promise for treatment of ovarian cancer and cancer of the abdominal lining called peritoneum.
The study is published in one of the current journals on cancer.
