Peritoneal carcinomatosis

A carcinomatosis is a malignant formation giving multiple metastases and developing in the parenchyma or serous membranes of the organs. This term is used specifically in relation to diseases of serous membranes. One of the varieties of this disease is the carcinomatosis of the peritoneum - a thin translucent serosa, covering the surface of the internal organs and the internal walls of the abdominal cavity.

Abdominal carcinomatosis : clinical picture

As a rule, this disease is accompanied by an extensive effusion into the serous cavity, which is numerous prosidic inclusions that merge and form larger tumors. The formation of this disease is typical for many varieties of malignant neoplasms of the digestive system, such as cancer of the stomach, thick and rectum, but its most common occurrence is ovarian cancer. When gastric cancer is detected , peritoneal carcinomatosis accompanies him in 30-40% of cases of this disease, and is one of the main causes of death of patients. The median survival of these patients is 5 months, in 34% of the radically operated patients, isolated relapses develop. Patients with ovarian cancer at the time of diagnosis in 70% of cases already have peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Symptoms of a carcinomatosis of a peritoneum

The main external symptoms of this disease are: abdominal pain and its increase, vomiting, nausea and weight loss.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis is a secondary disease and in itself appears extremely rare. The most common primary diseases, against which it occurs, are: adenocarcinoma of the digestive tract, ovary or pancreas. In addition, lesions of the peritoneum occur with leukemia, sarcomas, carcinoid tumors and lymphomas.

Confirmation of the diagnosis is carried out by the detection of mild lymphocytosis, as well as a positive result of a cytological study taken for the analysis of ascites fluid. In addition, it is possible to conduct a puncture biopsy. Treatment of this disease is directed primarily to the primary disease. If there are diffuse forms of peritoneal carcinomatosis, the prognosis is unfavorable. If the lesions have a clear localization, and the type of cancer is highly sensitive to chemotherapy, it is possible to cure the patient with the help of a radical surgery.

Quite often, with lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma and breast cancer, lung carcinomatosis develops. Also, this condition can be due to anyone that can metastasize to the pleura and lungs, a tumor.

Malignant lesions of internal organs, which include peritoneal carcinomatosis, are a group of serious diseases, the source of which is considered mesothelium. The group of these diseases also includes: peritoneal mesothelioma, papillary cancer of the serosa and primary peritoneal adenocarcinoma. The favorite site for the localization of malignant lesions of the abdominal cavity are zones of decreased mobility and peristalsis of the intestine.

At present, various modern techniques are being tested as an experiment for the treatment of abdominal carcinomatosis, which include the use of new chemotherapeutics, angiogenesis inhibitors, immunotherapy with antibodies and LAK cells, radioimmunotherapy with polymerase delivery systems, gene antisense therapy using viral delivery systems . A promising trend in such studies is photodynamic therapy (PDT), both as an independent method, and in combination with chemotherapy and surgery.