Rare peritoneal cancers

Peritoneal cancers are rare forms of cancer that develop in the peritoneum, a thin membrane that covers all the organs in the abdomen. This little-known organ forms a lubricated layer between the organs so they can slide over each other. Cancers of other organs in the abdominal cavity (ovarian cancer, bowel cancer, etc.) can spread to the peritoneum (this is known as peritoneal carcinomatosis), but cancer can also originate in the peritoneum itself.

Peritoneal cancers are extremely rare (less than 2 cases/million people per year), but treating them is a complex procedure that requires the expertise of many different specialists, including surgeons, oncologists, radiologists and anatomical pathologists, who work together as a multidisciplinary team. The IUCT-Oncopole is the regional referral center for peritoneal cancers within the national network of peritoneal cancer treatment centers (RENAPE).

This network provides treatment for:

  • Pseudomyxoma peritonei, which leads to an accumulation of mucin (a jelly-like fluid) and tumorous nodules in the abdominal cavity following the rupture of a tumor in the appendix;
  • Peritoneal mesothelioma, which is usually discovered as a result of abdominal pain and swelling due to the build-up of fluid in the abdomen;
  • Extremely rare tumors, such as intra-abdominal desmoplastic small round cell tumors (treated in collaboration with the sarcomas team).


Treatment usually involves a combination of:

  • Aggressive surgery to remove all the diseased tissue in the abdomen. This sometimes requires removing a large part of the peritoneum and some organs;
  • Hyperthermic intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy, which involves administering a high dose of heated chemotherapy drugs directly into the abdominal cavity during surgery;
  • In some cases, chemotherapy may be administered intravenously.

 

Treatment decisions are taken during interregional multidisciplinary consultation meetings that include other teams within the RENAPE network from Montpellier (ICM), Bordeaux (Institut Bergonié), Limoges (University Hospital) and Barcelona (Clinica del Pilar).

Patients treated at the IUCT-Oncopole also benefit from the high standard of care provided by all the institute’s medical and paramedical staff, which includes a specialist cancer intensive care team, a clinical research team, dieticians, care coordination and stoma care nurses, social workers, a patients’ association (AMARAPE) and, for cases of mesothelioma, an occupational health physician.