Surgery and Hyperthermic Compartmental Chemotherapy

Hyperthermic intrapleural/intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has been used to treat pleural and intraperitoneal mesotheliomas. HIPEC, in conjunction with radical surgical resection, has been used to treat adults with pleural mesotheliomas. Although results have been encouraging, HIPEC has not been validated in controlled clinical trials because pleural mesotheliomas are rare.[1,6,7] A single-institution study followed seven children with intraperitoneal mesotheliomas who were treated with surgery and HIPEC.[8] At last available follow-up, five of the seven patients were alive and had either minimal disease or no evaluable disease.