Long-term survival with peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis from intraductal mucinous papillary pancreatic carcinoma treated with complete cytoreduction and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy

Traditionally, peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) was regarded as an untreatable condition; however, the introduction of locoregional therapies combining cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) approximately two decades ago has changed this view. There is controversy, however, when a PC arises from pancreatic cancer. We have reported on an extraordinary case of an aggressive pseudomixoma peritonei arising from an invasive intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) treated with complete cytoreduction and HIPEC. This combination of treatments has not been previously described. Moreover, a very long-term disease-free survival of up to 70 months has been achieved by this combined approach. This approach may provide some optimism for considerable life extension in selected patients who present with an aggressive peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis of pancreatic origin considered suitable only for palliative care.