What does hipec mean?

Hipec means intraperitoneal hyperthermic perfusion chemotherapy.

Intraperitoneal hyperthermic perfusion chemotherapy (HIPEC) is an auxiliary treatment for abdominal malignant tumor, which means that perfusion liquid containing chemotherapy drugs is accurately and circularly infused at constant temperature, and the abdominal cavity is filled for a certain period of time to prevent peritoneal implantation and metastasis.

Seven advantages of intraperitoneal hyperthermic perfusion chemotherapy

1, enhance chemotherapy sensitivity: high temperature can destroy the stable state of cell membrane and increase the permeability of cell membrane, thus increasing the absorption and penetration of drugs by cells, making it easier for chemotherapy drugs to enter cancer cells and kill cancer cells;

2. Reduce the dosage of chemotherapy drugs: intraperitoneal perfusion chemotherapy can directly soak the organs in the abdominal cavity in high-concentration chemotherapy solution, which improves the killing ability of chemotherapy drugs to free cancer cells and micrometastases, and greatly reduces the dosage of drugs needed to achieve the same therapeutic effect;

3, reduce the damage to the body: the anticancer drugs are absorbed by capillaries and lymphatic vessels and then flow into the liver, and the detoxification of the liver reduces the toxic and side effects of intravenous administration and reduces the damage of chemotherapy drugs to normal tissues of the body;

4. Improve immunity: After hyperthermia, the decomposition products of tumor cell degeneration and necrosis and a large number of heat shock proteins (HSP) produced by tumor cells can stimulate the immune system to produce immune response, and induce T cells to produce strong immune effects, thus enhancing the anti-tumor immune function;

5. Prevention and treatment of liver metastasis of cancer: anticancer drugs flow into the liver through portal vein, which makes the distribution of drugs in the liver more uniform than that of systemic venous inflow, and has a positive preventive and therapeutic effect on liver metastasis;

6. Eliminating and alleviating the pain caused by cancer: This technology has a significant effect of killing tumor cells, which can obviously alleviate the symptoms of ascites and improve the quality of life. According to foreign statistics, the pain relief rate can be as high as 90%;

7. Save the cost of surgical treatment: intraperitoneal hyperthermic perfusion chemotherapy is performed during the operation to reduce the recurrence rate and save the cost of continuing treatment such as second operation after recurrence.