Low Preoperative Serum Albumin Levels Are Associated With Impaired Outcome After Cytoreductive Surgery and Perioperative Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Peritoneal Surface Malignancies

Preoperative hypoalbuminemia is known to be associated with postoperative morbidity and mortality, as well as with poor survival after gastrointestinal cancer surgery. However, limited data exist regarding the prognostic significance of hypoalbuminemia in patients with peritoneal metastases undergoing cytoreductive surgery, combined with perioperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy. We performed a systematic literature review of the previously published studies addressing the potential association between preoperative albumin levels and overall surgical outcomes after the performance of cytoreductive surgery and perioperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy for peritoneal surface malignancies. Our research yielded a total of nine retrospective studies which met our inclusion criteria, and despite their heterogeneity; and we can conclude that preoperatively low albumin levels are associated with greater likelihood of overall and major morbidity, as well as less favorable oncological outcome after the performance of cytoreductive surgery and perioperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy.