Perioperative management and postoperative outcome of patients undergoing cytoreduction surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The existence of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) as a multidisciplinary approach for peritoneal cancer gains acceptance in many countries including Saudi Arabia. The aim of our study is to describe the perioperative management of patients who received CRS/HIPEC and to report their outcomes and complications at our tertiary centre. METHODS: The preoperative characteristics, surgical variables, perioperative management, postoperative course and outcomes of 38 CRS/HIPEC patients were prospectively collected and analysed. RESULTS: The mean age of our patients was 52 years, and 23 (60.5%) of them were females. The overall postoperative mortality was 42.1%. Univariate analyses of risk factors for deaths after HIPEC demonstrated that low preoperative (haemoglobin, potassium, calcium and albumin), high (tumour marker (CA19.9), intraoperative transfusion of human plasma protein (HPP), colloids, postoperative activated partial thromboplastin time and bacterial infections were potential risk factors for patient's mortality. Multivariate analysis of those variables demonstrated that low preoperative calcium [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.116; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.033–0.407; P = 0.001], high intraoperative HPP transfusion (HR = 1.004; 95% CI = 1.001–1.003; P = 0.012) and presence of postoperative bacterial infection (HR = 5.987; 95% CI = 1.009–35.54; P = 0.049) were independent predictors of patient's death. Seventy morbidities happened after HIPEC; only bacterial infection independently predicted postoperative mortality. CONCLUSION: To improve postoperative outcome of CRS/HIPEC, optimisation of transfusion, temperature, electrolytes and using broader-spectrum prophylaxis to manage postoperative infections should be warranted.