Safety and Feasibility of Prophylactic Heated Intra-peritoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) for High-Risk Gallbladder Adenocarcinoma

Summary

Gallbladder adenocarcinoma is a devastating disease associated with a poor prognosis. Gallbladder and other biliary cancers will be responsible for an estimated 11,980 new cases, and 4,090 deaths in the US during 2020. The 5-year survival for all patients with gallbladder cancer is 18%, however this plummets to 2% for patients with metastatic disease. Patients with gallbladder cancer frequently develop peritoneal recurrence, particularly after intra-operative bile spillage during cholecystectomy for incidentally discovered gallbladder malignancy. Once developed, peritoneal metastases are difficult to treat and result in significant morbidity and mortality. As a result, novel approaches that target peritoneal metastases are needed for this disease. Prophylactic use of heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has been explored or is under active investigation for numerous gastrointestinal malignancies, including colon, gastric, and appendiceal cancers. HIPEC has efficacy in gallbladder cancer patients with macroscopic peritoneal disease undergoing cytoreductive surgery (CRS)/HIPEC and has been associated with a survival advantage in a multi-institutional retrospective case series. Incidentally discovered gallbladder cancer is treated with central hepatectomy and portal lymphadenectomy, therefore a prophylactic HIPEC can be easily incorporated into the second operation performed as part of the standard of care. In this early phase clinical trial, the investigators will explore the safety and feasibility of prophylactic HIPEC for gallbladder cancer in patients at high-risk of peritoneal recurrence. The primary endpoint is to assess feasibility of the prophylactic heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) approach in gallbladder cancer. The primary endpoints include occurrence of intra-operative complications, technical challenges, 90-day postoperative morbidity and mortality, length of stay and readmission, which will be documented and compared with historical controls after follow-up.

Eligibility

Age range

18+ years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

No

Interventions

• Drug
  HIPEC

  Heated Intra-Peritoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) HIPEC will be performed at the time of the index operation if a cancer is known pre-operatively, at the time of re-operation for incidentally discovered cancers already treated with cholecystectomy that are undergoing central hepatectomy and portal lymphadenectomy as part of standard of care, or independently if no other procedures are indicated. A closed technique will be utilized to deliver mitomycin C (MMC) over the first 60 minutes followed by an additional smaller dose over an additional 30 minutes. Perfusate will be heated to obtain a tissue temperature of 42°

Location