The value of mechlorethamine hydrochloride (nitrogen mustard) versus saline in controlling tumor implantation in the peritoneal cavity has been explored in paired experiments using the Brown Pearce tumor in rabbits. Mechlorethamine hydrochloride irrigation of the peritoneal cavity was no more effective than saline irrigation in the prevention of tumor implantation. Mechlorethamine hydrochloride instilled and left in the peritoneal cavity was no more effective than saline in the prevention of tumor implantation. Mechlorethamine hydrochloride irrigation of the cut ends of the bowel and of the peritoneal cavity after an anastomosis of the colon was no more effective than irrigation with saline in controlling implantation of tumor at the anastomosis or in the peritoneal cavity. If the response of clinical cancer of the colon to mechlorethamine hydrochloride is comparable to that of the Brown-Pearce tumor, then intraperitoneal mechlorethamine hydrochloride therapy should be employed cautiously.
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Isidore Cohn (1963) studied this question.