Standard Prophylactic Strategy against Peritoneal Dissemination Metastasis in Gastric Cancer

Peritoneal carcinomatosis is the most frequent pattern of metastasis and recurrence in patients with gastric cancer, and the prognosis of those patients with peritoneal metastasis is extremely poor. Once peritoneal metastasis is formed, it is extremely difficult to overcome. EIPL (extensive intraoperative peritoneal lavage) is a quite useful and practical adjuvant surgical technique for the gastric cancer patients who are likely to suffer from peritoneal recurrence. EIPL includes 10 times of an extensive shake and wash of abdominal cavity with saline followed by the complete aspiration of the fluid after potentially curative operation, which is supposed to have an amazing cyto-reduction power. The purpose of this article is to review the effect of EIPL on prevention of peritoneal recurrence in the patients with peritoneal free cancer cells and to evaluate its validity as a standard prophylactic strategy against peritoneal recurrence in gastric cancer.