Intraperitoneal (intra-abdominal) therapy is a treatment that administers medication into the abdominal cavity through a tube or catheter that has been inserted through the abdominal wall. This tube can be a permanent one such as a Port-A-Cath® (very similar to those used in the upper chest wall for intravenous therapy); other tubes, such as dialysis catheters, which can remain indefinitely; or temporary ones that can be placed and removed in a single visit. These catheters can be used to infuse fluid that may contain chemotherapy such as cisplatin or biologic therapy such as interferon. New gene therapy studies have used this method for delivery of some novel agents.
The idea of intraperitoneal therapy is based on the concept that the ovarian tumor is typically confined to the abdominal cavity. By putting the therapy directly into the abdominal cavity, the treatment can wash over the surfaces of the cavity and the organs within, bathing the tumor directly with a therapeutic agent. A variety of treatments have been tried with some benefit in certain groups of patients. Intraperitoneal therapy success is limited by the amount of disease within the abdomen, meaning that penetration of the treatment may be limited by the size of the tumor or because of scar tissue.
This therapy involves placing fluid containing the treatment into the abdomen, and then having the woman rotate her body in several different positions to ensure adequate treatment of all surfaces. This fluid is absorbed over 24 to 48 hours.
Some of the side effects of the treatment are related to the volume of fluid infused and may include: swelling, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, and changes in bowel function. The biologic therapies and gene therapies can cause fevers. There are risks including an infection called peritonitis (inflammation of the peritoneal cavity) or problems related to the catheter, such as infection or damage to organs. Intraperitoneal therapy can be useful in controlling ascites (fluid in the abdominal cavity) in recurrent cancer. Overall, the use of intraperitoneal therapy depends on your particular oncologist or it is performed as a part of a clinical trial.
Reprinted with permission from The Wellness Community
The Wellness Community’s Patient Active Guide to Living with Ovarian Cancer
NCI Issues Clinical Announcement for Preferred Method of Treatment for Advanced Ovarian Cancer
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, January 4, 2006 issued an announcement encouraging treatment with anticancer drugs via two methods, after surgery, for women with advanced ovarian cancer. The combined methods, which deliver drugs into a vein and directly into the abdomen, extend overall survival for women with advanced ovarian cancer by about a year.
The clinical announcement to surgeons and other medical professionals who treat women with ovarian cancer was made with the support of six professional societies and advocacy groups. The announcement coincides with publication in the New England Journal of Medicine* of the results of a large clinical trial by Deborah Armstrong, M.D., medical oncologist and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, Md., and her colleagues in an NCI-supported research network known as the Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG). This is the eighth trial evaluating the use of chemotherapy delivered into the abdomen for ovarian cancer. Together, these trials show a significant improvement in survival for women with advanced ovarian cancer.
The two treatment methods are called intravenous, or IV, for chemotherapy delivered into a vein and intraperitoneal, or IP, for chemotherapy delivered into the abdominal, or peritoneal, cavity. The Armstrong trial involved 429 women with stage III ovarian cancer who were given chemotherapy following the successful surgical removal of tumors. It compared two treatment regimens: 1) IV paclitaxel followed by IV cisplatin, to 2) IV paclitaxel followed by IP cisplatin and the subsequent administration of IP paclitaxel.
"Americans look to NCI--and to all of the institutes that constitute the National Institutes of Health--for unbiased research studies and sound counsel. This clinical announcement is a demonstration of that commitment," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D.
"The National Cancer Institute wants to make certain that the results of clinical research are rapidly disseminated to both health care providers and patients, in order to ensure that life-enhancing cancer treatments are widely available," said NCI Director Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D.
"IP therapy is not a new treatment approach, but it has not been widely accepted as the gold standard for women with ovarian cancer," said Armstrong. "There has been a prejudice against IP therapy in ovarian cancer because it's an old idea, it requires skill and experience for the surgery and for the chemotherapy, and it's more complicated than IV chemotherapy. But now we have firm data showing that we should use a combination of IP and IV chemotherapy in most women with advanced ovarian cancer who have had successful surgery to remove the bulk of their tumor."
Standard treatment for women with stage III ovarian cancer has been surgical removal of the tumor (debulking), followed by six to eight courses of IV chemotherapy given every three weeks with a platinum drug, such as cisplatin or carboplatin, and a taxane drug, such as paclitaxel. The new NCI clinical announcement recommends that women with advanced ovarian cancer who undergo effective surgical debulking receive a combination of IV and IP chemotherapy. IP chemotherapy allows higher doses and more frequent administration of drugs, and it appears to be more effective in killing cancer cells in the peritoneal cavity, where ovarian cancer is likely to spread or recur first.
"In our trial, women who received part of their chemotherapy via an IP route had a median survival time 16 months longer than women who received only IV chemotherapy," said Armstrong. The 205 women treated via the IP route fared better, even though most of them received fewer than the six planned treatments. Complications associated with the abdominal catheter used to deliver the IP chemotherapy were the main reason only 86 of the women completed all six IP treatments. Women who received IP chemotherapy had more side effects than those treated with IV chemotherapy alone, but most side effects were temporary and easily managed. One year after treatment, women in both study groups had the same reported quality of life.
"Randomized, multicenter clinical trials, including this most recent study, clearly show the value of IP chemotherapy--an extended life for women with advanced ovarian cancer," said Philip DiSaia, M.D., chairman of the GOG.
"For most women who have had successful surgical removal of tumors to less than one centimeter in size, we now know that the longest survival may be achieved by giving their chemotherapy directly into the abdomen," said Beth Karlan, M.D., president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists and director of Gynecologic Oncology and the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
In response to this announcement, the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance's outgoing president, Ginger Ackerman, and its executive director, Sherry Salway Black, said the Alliance would widely disseminate this information on IP therapy to their patient community. "We welcome the results of the recent trial that demonstrates increased survivorship," said Salway Black.
"It is important for women to have the facts about when it is appropriate to consider IP chemotherapy," said Karl Podratz, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the board of the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation (GCF) and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. "GCF looks forward to working with NCI and the ovarian cancer community to educate women about the results of this very important clinical trial, and what it means for women with advanced ovarian cancer."
Karen Stanley, R.N., M.S.N, president of the Oncology Nursing Society, and Susan Vogt Temple, R.N., president of the Society of Gynecologic Nurse Oncologists, noted that their societies have plans in place to teach oncology nurses and women with ovarian cancer how IP chemotherapy can be given safely and reliably.
More studies are needed to determine the best IP drug regimen and the optimal number of IP treatments. Future trials also will address how to reduce toxicity associated with IP administration.
View NCI Clinical Announcement (PDF) >
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