HIPEC model in vivo

A common treatment for patients with peritoneal metastasis is cytoreductive surgery to remove all visible tumor followed by circulation of hyperthermic chemotherapy in the abdominal cavity for 90 minutes to kill the small remaining tumors. The rationale behind this procedure is that the heated chemotherapy can increase the penetration of drug into the tumor, activate the immune system and thereby improving the response to treatment. HIPEC is a complicated procedure with many important parameters, such as choice of drug, treatment duration and temperature of the chemotherapy, but there is no standardized method of performing HIPEC and it is therefore large variation between treatment centers. 

To improve the understanding of the mechanisms behind HIPEC we have established an in vivo HIPEC model mimicking the procedure in patients. We will use this method to investigate the significance of several of the key parameters such as drug and temperature to improve the treatment of patients.