Targeting the peritoneum with novel drug delivery systems in peritoneal carcinomatosis: a review of the literature

The Peritoneal cavity is a well-known metastatic site for several intra-abdominal malignancies, such as stomach, colon, pancreas and rectal cancer. For long, it was thought that treatment with curative intent was impossible but that was challenged by the introduction of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Although their effectiveness has been proven both experimentally and clinically, there is need for improvement. Firstly, a significant proportion of patients develop recurrent disease. Secondly, HIPEC demands presence of dedicated perfusion devices not readily available in most hospitals. Since intraperitoneal administration of chemotherapy is thought to play a crucial role, new modalities to deliver effective chemotherapeutics to the peritoneum are developed. The current review aims to present an overview of the experimental data on new drug delivery systems (DDS) in peritoneal cancer.