Arresting Secondary Cancers to the Abdominal Wall

Cancer that spreads to the lining of the abdominal wall is typically lethal within six months.  However many patients with this diagnosis are living longer with advanced treatments available at NYP/Columbia — one of the few programs in the nation to perform complex, extensive cytoreduction operations paired with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC).

Researchers have found 40 percent survival rates at five years for patients with metastatic colon cancer and median survival of over 60 months for those with diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.  The success of this approach depends upon the skill and experience of the surgeon.  The team at NYP/Columbia is unsurpassed.

Michael Kluger, MD, MPH, removes the visible tumor then inserts a port to infuse a single dose of HIPEC, proven highly effective in these patients, surpassing results obtained with IV chemotherapy alone.  This is truly a multidisciplinary approach, and collaboration with surgeons from the Division of Colorectal Surgery and Division of Gynecologic Oncology is critical, as well as with the treating medical oncologist.  Columbia began offering this approach in 1995, and has since treated over 300 patients.

Columbia’s mesothelioma program has performed more surgeries for peritoneal mesothelioma than any other center in the US, helping patients all over the country who could not be treated elsewhere.

Dr. Kluger reports: "We recently initiated a clinical trial treating abdominal spread of adrenal cortical carcinoma, a rare and rapidly fatal cancer, with cytoreduction and HIPEC.  This is in collaboration with Tito Fojo, MD, PhD, an internationally recognized oncologist specializing in the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors who recently came to Columbia from the NIH.  We are excited to be offering this new frontier to patients with few options."

Learn more here »
To refer a patient please call 212 305.7013