Nicholas J. Petrelli, MD, FACS

Dr. Paul H. Sugarbaker hasspent most of his surgical oncologycareer researching andtreating patients with peritoneal surfacemalignancies. His participationin the treatment of 385 patients withappendiceal malignancy over a 15-year period is probably the largestsuch experience ever reported.[1] Dr. Sugarbaker has demonstrated that inpatients with peritoneal carcinomatosisfrom gastrointestinal malignancies,the best treatment results are associatedwith mucinous epithelial malignancyof the appendix.

Metastatic colorectal cancer to the liver develops in over 50,000 US patients each year and is rapidly fatal if untreated. Even the most active chemotherapeutic agents rarely prolong survival for more than 3 years. Liver

Adenocarcinoma of the rectum remains a significant public health challenge, with 39,000 new cases and 8,500 deaths predicted for 1998. Radical surgery, the current standard therapy, frequently necessitates the formation of