Safety and Efficacy of Cisplatin and Doxorubicin Pressurized Intraperitoneal Aerosolized Chemotherapy (PIPAC) in Patients with Ovarian Cancer with Peritoneal Metastases: A Multicenter US Phase I Trial

Brad Nakamura & Thanh Hue Dellinger et al. · 2025-09-30

Abstract

Background

Pressurized intraperitoneal aerosolized chemotherapy (PIPAC) is a novel, minimally invasive method of delivering intraperitoneal chemotherapy with promising peritoneal disease control in ovarian cancer.

Methods

This US multicenter prospective phase I trial (NCT04329494) evaluated the safety and efficacy of PIPAC cisplatin 10.5 mg/m 2 and doxorubicin 2.1 mg/m 2 (PIPAC-CD) every 6 weeks in ovarian cancer at three US centers. Primary endpoints were dose-limiting toxicities and adverse events. Secondary endpoints included response according to RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors) criteria, laparoscopic peritoneal carcinomatosis index, histologic peritoneal regression grading score, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS).

Results

In total, 15 patients were enrolled. The median prior lines of therapy was 3 (range 1–10). The PIPAC completion rate (≥2 PIPACs) was 86.7%. A total of 76.9% of patients had extraperitoneal disease at baseline. One patient discontinued treatment for toxicity because of deterioration of her baseline Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 2 performance status. There was one grade 3 abdominal pain, one grade 3 anorexia, and no grade 4 or 5 adverse events. Laparoscopic best response (peritoneal carcinomatosis index) and histologic response (peritoneal regression grading score) occurred in 30.8% and 46.2%, respectively. Radiologic best response (RECIST) was 6.7%, with one partial response and a stable disease rate of 26.7%. Median PFS and OS were 2.3 months (95% confidence interval 1.7–3.2) and 17.1 months (95% confidence interval 5.6–not reached), respectively (n=15).

Conclusions

PIPAC-CD is feasible, safe, and well tolerated at academic US centers. OS and PFS were limited in patients with heavily pretreated ovarian carcinoma who underwent PIPAC-CD. Future trials should focus on optimizing PIPAC drug combinations and determining optimal patient selection criteria for ovarian cancer.

Authors
Brad Nakamura, Rosemary Senguttuvan, Nora H. Ruel, Paul H. Frankel, Susan E. Yost, Sarah Cole, Sue Chang, Alexander Jung, Melissa Eng, Raechelle Tinsley, Timothy Synold, Daphne Stewart, Edward Wang, Joshua Cohen, Jeannine Villella, Richard L. Whelan, Amit Merchea, Danielle K. DePeralta, Yanghee Woo, Mustafa Raoof, Thanh Hue Dellinger