Abstract
BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the safety and feasibility of intrapleural perfusion hyperthermic chemotherapy (IPHC) followed by cytoreductive surgery as a part of multimodal strategy for the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma. METHODS: Medical records of advanced lung cancer patients with pleural dissemination who underwent surgical treatment between 2003 and 2013 were reviewed retrospectively. Enrolled patients were divided into a surgery group comprising patients who underwent surgery only and an IPHC group, which consisted of patients who underwent surgery combined with IPHC. RESULTS: A total of 33 patients were enrolled in this study. Twenty-three patients underwent IPHC after surgical resection, and 10 patients underwent surgical resection only. The complication rate of the IPHC group was estimated to be 34.8% (8 cases), none of which included postoperative mortality. The complication rate of the surgery group was 40.0% (4 cases), which included one postoperative mortality. The 6-month, 1-year, and 3-year overall survival rates for the IPHC group were 95.7%, 91.3% and 38.6%, respectively, while those of the surgery group were 80.0%, 80.0% and 37.5%. The 6-month, 1-year and 3-year progression-free survival rates for the IPHC group were 87.0%, 47.8% and 24.3%, while those of surgery group were 44.4%, 33.3% and 0.0%, respectively. There were significant differences in overall survival rates between two groups (P=0.045); however, progression-free survival was not different between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: IPHC combined with cytoreductive surgery for advanced lung adenocarcinoma associated with pleural seeding could be performed safely and feasible. It would be part of multimodality therapy for certain category of advanced lung adenocarcinoma. However, the long-term benefits for survival is uncertain. More extensive and precisely designed studies are warranted to further evaluate the effectiveness of IPHC.