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Promising Results of CRS/HIPEC Treatment

ByHolly Zink
Promising Results of CRS/HIPEC Treatment

A new treatment can lead to good short- and long-term outcomes for patients with mesothelioma. It’s called cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC).

Research results came from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria. They looked at the first 100 mesothelioma patients who had this treatment in their hospital.

Advancing Mesothelioma Care

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that grows in the lining that covers many of the internal organs of the body. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. There are approximately 2,000 cases of mesothelioma diagnosed in the United States every year.

The standard treatment for mesothelioma usually includes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. The typical prognosis with standard treatment is survival between one and five years.

In some cases, doctors are using a new treatment called CRS/HIPEC. CRS involves removing as many of the cancer cells as possible. With HIPEC, chemotherapy is placed in direct contact where the mesothelioma tumors are removed. They kill any leftover cancer cells. Because the chemotherapy drugs are not going throughout the body, higher doses of the drugs can be used.

This treatment can cure some patients with mesothelioma. But, it is difficult to achieve good results because the surgery is complex.

Austrian Researchers and CRS/HIPEC for Mesothelioma Patients

The researchers wanted to find out if CRS-HIPEC was improving outcomes for their mesothelioma patients.

After looking at the first 100 patients who received this treatment, they found that 97% of patients survived the surgery. And, about 26% of the patients had major complications. On average, patients lived for about 49 months after the treatment.

The researchers believe that CRS/HIPEC is a promising treatment for mesothelioma patients. They think that the experience of the doctors and a special training program were important for their success. The researchers hope that their approach to CRS/HIPEC will be used as a model for other hospitals.

Source

Braunschmid T, Beer A, Graf A, et al. Meeting actual benchmarks for short- and long-term outcomes after cytoreductive surgery for peritoneal surface malignancy at a newly established academic treatment center [2023 May 26]. Surgery. 2023;S0039-6060(23)00250-7. doi:10.1016/j.surg.2023.04.044. https://www.surgjournal.com/article/S0039-6060(23)00250-7/fulltext#secsectitle0110

 

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