This study examined the difference in overall survival (OS) between peritoneal metastatic gastric cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by cytoreductive surgery±hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS±HIPEC) and those who did not have surgery but instead received palliative chemotherapy.

This retrospective study included 80 patients who were followed up with the diagnosis of peritoneal metastatic gastric cancer, those undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by CRS±HIPEC (CRS±HIPEC group) and those receiving chemotherapy only (non-surgical group), in the medical oncology clinic between April 2011 and December 2021. Clinicopathological features, treatments and OS of the patients were compared.

There were 32 patients in the SRC CRS±HIPEC group and 48 in the non-surgical group. In the CRS±HIPEC group, CRS+HIPEC was performed in 20 patients and only CRS was performed on 12 patients. All of the patients who underwent CRS+HIPEC, and 5 of the patients who underwent only CRS received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. While the median OS was 19.7 (15.5-23.8) months in the CRS±HIPEC group, the median OS was 6.8 (3.5-10.2) months in the non-surgical group (p<0.001).

As a result, CRS+HIPEC significantly improves survival in PMGC patients. With experienced surgical centres and appropriate patient selection, the life expectancy of patients with PM can be extended.