Abstract: Objective: Locoregional progression of abdominal and pelvic cancer often results in fatal peritoneal carcinomatosis, in which conventional treatment is hardly effective. In recent years, maximal cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with intraoperative peritoneal hyperthermo-chemotherapy(IPHC) has emerged as a new treatment strategy for such lesions. Based on retrieval of literature on clinical studies, the authors analyzed the prevalence and pathophysiology of peritoneal carcinomatosis, the pharmacological foundation of treatment for peritoneal carcinomatosis, and clinical trial results of CRS plus IPHC. Peritoneal carcinomatosis can result from gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, peritoneal mesothelioma, pseudomyxoma, and abdominal sarcoma. Conventional chemotherapy can only achieve a median survival of 6 months. In IPHC, drug concentration in the peritoneum is 10~1000 times higher than in the blood, and the heat at 42℃ has a synergic anti-tumor effect when combined with chemotherapeutic agents. Peritoneal carcinomatosis index is the criteria to judge the extent of cancer peritoneal spread. Maximal CRS plus IPHC can significantly improve the survival of patients, and the median survival of patients can be increased to 20 months for patients with colorectal cancer, 10 months for patients with gastric cancer and 65 months for patients with ovarian cancer. The perioperative morbidity is about 27%～56% and mortality is 0～11%. Most of the studies are phase Ⅱ trials, and only a feware phase Ⅲ studies. CRS plus IPHC is currently the most effective treatment for peritoneal carcinomatosis. More prospective multicenter randomized clinical trials are needed to optimize the technique and efficacy.