Incidence of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia with cisplatin plus mitomycin-c versus melphalan in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC).

Introduction: Cytopenia after hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) with cytoreductive surgery (CRS) has been reported in non-comparative studies with various chemotherapeutic regimens. This study compared the incidence of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia in patients who underwent CRS/HIPEC and received melphalan or cisplatin plus mitomycin-c (CIS + MMC).

Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent CRS/HIPEC at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from March 2011 to March 2017 and received melphalan 60 mg/m or CIS 100 mg/m combined with MMC 30 mg/m. Incidences and severity of leukopenia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and anemia were compared between groups.

Results: This study included 46 patients who received CIS + MMC and 35 patients who received melphalan. The leukopenia incidence was 25.7% in the melphalan group and 17.3% in the CIS + MMC group (P = 0.362), with one patient (2.8%) in the melphalan group developed grade V leukopenia. The number of days to leukocyte nadir was 32.8 days for CIS + MMC group compared to 9.8 days for melphalan group(P = 0.035). Thrombocytopenia occurred at a similar rate in the melphalan (60%) and CIS + MMC (68.8%) groups (P = 0.4). Grade III thrombocytopenia developed in 3.2% and 5% of patients in the melphalan and the CIS + MMC groups, respectively. Neutropenia did not occur in any patient. In multivariate analysis, leukopenia predictors were female gender (P = 0.047) and baseline leukocyte counts (P = 0.029). Baseline platelet count predicted thrombocytopenia (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Melphalan and CIS + MMC regimens were associated with comparable incidences of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. Severe leukopenia and severe thrombocytopenia were rare following CRS/HIPEC using both chemotherapy regimens.