Intraoperative hyperthermic lavage with cisplatin for peritoneal carcinomatosis and sarcomatosis

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Abstract
Heat is one of the oldest forms of therapy used to treat cancers. Numerous references to cauterization for local tumor destruction are made in the ancient literature. Hippocrates states in Aphorism LXXXVII: ‘Those diseases that medicines do not cure are cured by the knife. Those that the knife does not cure are cured by fire. Those that fire does not cure, must be considered incurable’ [1]. In the late 19th century several reports were made regarding the spontaneous regression of malignant tumors in patients who experienced a fever [2–4]. The first such report was made by Busch in 1866. Around the turn of the 20th century, researchers discovered that malignant tumors are more sensitive to heat-induced damage than normal tissues [5,6]. Since then, numerous clinical experiments have used heat alone, or in combination with surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.