April 26, 2011
School of Medicine, Kochi
Dr. Tejal Kishore Gorasia, first-year DNB resident in the Department of Surgical Oncology at the Amrita School of Medicine won the best poster award at a recent CME organized jointly by the Indian Association of Surgical Oncology (IASO) and the Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.
The continuing medical education (CME) program titled Excellence in Cancer Surgery through Innovation highlighted methods to be adopted for comprehensive management of malignancies.
Dr. Tejal’s poster titled Phase II Study of Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy in Inoperable Epithelial Ovarian and Primary Peritoneal Cancers after Optimal Cytoreduction won the first prize.
There are studies that prove that that survival rates are higher for patients with ovarian tumors and peritoneal cancers who receive intraperitoneal chemotherapy treatment. But the treatment is accompanied with severe drug-related and administration-technique-related toxicities.
A study was conducted at Amrita’s Department of Oncology to understand the feasibility of intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IPCT) in Indian patients with ovarian cancers via special administration techniques.
“Intraperitoneal means within or administered through the peritoneum,” explained Dr. Tejal.
The peritoneum is a thin membrane which lines the abdominal and pelvic cavities. In females, reproductive structures such as fallopian tubes and ovaries open into the peritoneal cavity.
Ovarian tumors in women may easily be metastasized to peritoneal surfaces. In intraperitoneal chemotherapy, chemotherapy drugs are directly delivered into the abdominal cavity. The advantage with this technique is that a more concentrated form of the drug can be applied directly to the tumor cells.
During the study, chemotherapeutic drug (Cisplatin 75mg/m2) was administered by two routes, viz. intraperitoneal catheter and direct puncture technique in patients with cancers of the ovary and peritoneum.
It was noted that in patients who received chemotherapy treatment via intraperitoneal catheter, major toxicities developed including blocked catheter, sepsis, abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction and peritoneovaginal fistulae.
Direct puncture technique on the other hand, was without any procedure related toxicities.
Quality of life was also better for patients who received IPCT through direct puncture as compared to intraperitoneal catheter.
“Intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IPCT) by direct puncture is an alternative and a safer way, without any of the major catheter related toxicities even in the post-operative settings after six cycles of chemotherapy,” concluded Dr. Tejal, in her winning poster.
