Foreword

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One of the most difficult management problems in surgery is pseudomyxoma peritonei. This enigmatic disease pursues a chronic and relentless course and in time usually takes the life of the host. For years the primary treatment was surgical debulking, but more recently, surgeons at specialized centers have combined aggressive debulking with resection of the peritoneum and hyperthermic, intraperitoneal chemotherapy in attempts to cure patients. The aggressive combinatorial therapy is associated with a high morbidity and it is difficult to say whether it offers superior results, as there have been no randomized controlled trials comparing different therapeutic approaches. Unfortunately, there is no effective medical therapy. In this issue of Current Problems in Surgery Drs. Smeenk, Bruin, van Velthuysen and Verwaal, from the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam and the Netherlands Cancer Institute have written an authoritative monograph on pseudomyxoma peritonei, which will serve as a standard reference in the field.