The healthcare sector of the Sultanate of Oman has made headway in cancer management by using a minimally invasive surgical technique to deliver chemotherapy. The new treatment method gives hope to cancer patients in the country.
The surgical oncology team in the gastrointestinal programme led by Dr Maha al Shuaibi (pictured), Senior Consultant- Surgical Oncology at Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Care and Research Centre (SQCCCRC), announced the launch of PIPAC, a new form of cancer treatment on Sunday.
Speaking to the Observer, Dr Maha said that this technology provides an opportunity for a selective group of patients who are typically non-responsive, and non-treatable with conventional types of chemotherapy and other different modalities of management and the results are promising.
"This treatment method called PIPAC uses a surgical technique to introduce the state-of-the-art device that converts chemotherapy into a condensed mist that is directed into the metastatic disease within the peritoneal cavity. We have seen promising results in our group of patients and the future will be better for such cases," she said.
The technique of 'Pressurised Intra Peritoneal Aresoal Chemotherapy' (PIPAC) is a novel drug delivery system of chemotherapy using a minimally invasive surgical technique to treat patients with peritoneal-based metastasis such as gastrointestinal, ovarian and uterine tumours, Dr Maha adds.
The technology represents the newest and most advanced method in treating particular cases that would traditionally be considered unmanageable. The PIPAC treatment can help to shrink the tumours enough to make the patient a candidate for other curative treatments such as Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC).
"Other advantages of this treatment are that it may provide symptom control improvement in quality of life, or even limit the disease progression and in a certain case, it can even convert patients who are unresectable into a respectable and manageable disease," Dr Al Shuaibi said, adding that PIPAC is provided in a limited number of centres around the world and that the team here is very proud to be the first group to introduce this treatment to the Omani society.
Dr Maha, along with her colleague Dr Mohammed al Hosni, Consultant Surgical Oncology performed a number of procedures using PIPAC with very promising results and are looking forward to expanding the services to include as many patients as possible and provide opportunities and hope for those in need.
Selection of Patients: Dr Maha said the process of choosing patients for such treatment comes through extensive discussions in their multidisciplinary tumour board meetings.
"At these meetings, each patient is evaluated individually for the type of disease and the amount of disease spread and once the patient is selected, we start introducing this technology to provide the chemotherapy in multiple sessions, where each session can be six weeks apart," adds Dr Maha.
This technology is not a standalone treatment, but it goes hand-in-hand with systemic chemotherapy to improve the overall outcome.
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