Comparison of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy with mitomycin or carboplatin for diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma

Diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare, aggressive disease. Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) have improved outcomes where systemic chemotherapy has not succeeded. In this study, we compare outcomes of patients treated with mitomycin or carboplatin as perfusate. In this retrospective study, 47 procedures (CRS 1 HIPEC) were conducted on 44 patients between March 2003 and August 2010 with either mitomycin or carboplatin. x2 and Student's t test were used for comparison of clinicopathological variables and Kaplan-Meier curves and log rank test were used to compare overall survival.Median survival of themitomycin groupwas 18 months with 1- and 5-year survivals of 72.3 and 27.3 per cent, respectively. Median survival of the carboplatin group was not reached and 1- and 5-year survivals were 89.7 and 62.5 per cent, respectively (P 5 0.014).Mean hospital and intensive care unit length of stay was 18.9 and 8.7 days in the mitomycin group and 12.5 and 2.3 days in the carboplatin group (P 5 0.0069). Mean number of packed red blood cell units transfused was higher in the mitomycin group compared with the carboplatin group (3.54 vs 0.83, P <0.05). There was no postoperative mortality. HIPEC with carboplatin in diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is associated with improved overall survival and shorter hospital stay compared with HIPEC with mitomycin.