Current methodologies for clinical assessment of patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis

Peritoneal carcinomatosis is a common evolution of gastrointestinal cancers. The prognosis of patients with such disease is dependent upon pre-operative and post-operative variables. CT scan of the abdomen and the pelvis represents the adequate standardized radiologic exam for pre-operative evaluation of tumor volume and location in the peritoneal cavity. It may provide informations regarding the selection of patients for complete cytoreductive surgery. Clinical factors like the extent of prior surgical procedures, the grade of the primary tumor, and the mucin content of peritoneal implants may also help to select patients for an adequate treatment approach. Several intra-operative factors including the cancer distribution into the peritoneal cavity and the completeness of surgery need to be prospectively recorded by the surgeon in order to assess quantitatively their impact on the prognosis of patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis. This review provides standardized methodologies in the assessment of these clinical variables.