Long-term survival after cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for patients with peritoneal metastases of urachal cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Urachal adenocarcinoma (UrAC) is a rare malignancy arising from persistent urachal remnants, which can cause peritoneal metastases (PM). Currently, patients with this stage UrAC are considered beyond cure. Our objective is to report long-term oncological outcome after cytoreductive surgery (CRS) plus hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for patients with PM of urachal adenocarcinoma (UrAC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We identified 55 patients with UrAC treated at our hospital between 1994 and 2017. Patients were staged with CT, bone scintigraphy and/or PET/CT. From 2001 on, cN0M0 patients underwent staging laparoscopy. Ten patients had PM and were treated with CRS/HIPEC; 35 showed no metastases and underwent local treatment; 10 had distant metastases and received palliative chemotherapy. Disease-specific survival (DSS) rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank tests. Postoperative complications represent a secondary outcome. RESULTS: The median follow-up was 96.8 months. Of the CRS/HIPEC patients, 5 (50%) developed a recurrence; 4 (40%) died of disease. The 2-yr and 5-yr DSS after CRS/HIPEC were 66.7% and 55.6%, respectively. DSS of the CRS/HIPEC patients did not significantly differ from DSS of patients without metastases who only underwent curative local treatment and was superior to patients with distant metastases (P = 0.012). The overall complication rate after CRS/HIPEC was 60%. Major complications (Clavien 3) constituted 20%. The study is limited by its retrospective nature and the small sample size. CONCLUSION: CRS/HIPEC demonstrates satisfactory long-term oncological outcome for patients with PM of UrAC. It may be offered as a potentially curative treatment option for this group of patients.

Fatty acid composition of plasma lipids in patients with pancreatic, lung and oesophageal cancer in comparison with healthy subjects.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Despite the general notion of impaired nutritional status in cancer patients, studies on fatty acid status in cancer patients are limited. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether plasma n-3 fatty acids concentrations are reduced in patients with different tumour types. METHODS: We measured fatty acid composition in plasma phospholipids (PLs) and cholesteryl esters (CEs) in 71 newly diagnosed, untreated cancer patients of three tumour types: oesophageal or cardia cancer (n = 35), non-small cell lung cancer (n = 22) and pancreatic cancer (n = 15) and in 45 healthy subjects. RESULTS: In pancreatic cancer, plasma n-3 fatty acids showed a substantial reduction in both plasma PLs and CES. Although n-3 fatty acids in lung cancer also tended to be reduced, this difference failed to reach statistical significance. n-3 Fatty acid levels were especially reduced in pancreatic cancer patients without diabetes mellitus, and in lung cancer patients with weight loss. In oesophageal cancer, n-3 fatty acid concentrations were comparable to those in healthy subjects. CONCLUSION: We conclude that plasma n-3 fatty acid levels were reduced in pancreatic cancer, tended to be reduced in lung cancer, but were not altered in oesophageal cancer. Further studies are needed to assess the mechanisms underlying the observed changes in n-3 fatty acid concentrations.