Clinical effectiveness of omental transposition in facilitating perineal wound healing after abdominoperineal resection: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Omental transposition has been used to facilitate perineal wound healing in patients undergoing abdominoperineal resection (APR). However, there is no high-level evidence supporting the effectiveness of omental transposition in this regard. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of omental transposition in facilitating perineal wound healing after APR. METHODS: In this systematic review, we systematically searched the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases for literature regarding the topic of our study. Studies published since the inception of each database were considered for review. The outcomes of interest were the perineal wound healing rate at 1 and 3 months postoperatively, perineal wound infection rate, and perineal wound healing period. RESULTS: Of the 1,923 studies identified, four articles representing 819 patients (omental transposition patients, n=295) were included in the final analysis. The wound healing rates at 1 and 3 months postoperatively in the omental transposition group (68.5% and 79.7%, respectively) did not significantly differ from those in the control group (57.4% and 78.7%, respectively) (p=0.759 and p=0.731, respectively). Perineal wound infection and chronic wound complication rates, including sinus, dehiscence, and fistula rates, also did not significantly differ between the omental transposition (8% and 7%, respectively) and control (11% and 7%, respectively) groups (p=0.221 and p=0.790, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that omental transposition does not affect perineal wound healing in patients who undergo APR.