ASO Author Reflections: Patient-Reported Outcomes of Mucinous Appendiceal Cancer Improve with Oxaliplatin HIPEC

Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS/HIPEC) is an accepted treatment for the management of appendiceal neoplasms with peritoneal metastasis. No randomized controlled trials for cancer of the appendix have been conducted in any setting. Furthermore, there is no consensus on the most effective approach for CRS/HIPEC, including the perfusion agent of choice. Oxaliplatin and mitomycin are the two commonly used perfusion agents, however retrospective studies have shown mixed results. Nonetheless, no successfully completed randomized clinical trials have compared the outcomes of the two agents for HIPEC in appendiceal cancer. In addition to oncologic and hematologic endpoints, quality of life (QOL) is a very important outcome in CRS/HIPEC, which is a complex surgical procedure with potentially significant morbidities. While retrospective studies have been published by our group and others,1,2 no randomized clinical trials have compared the QOL aspects of HIPEC with oxaliplatin or mitomycin. …