Obesity is not associated with increased morbidity in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery with intraperitoneal...

Recent single-institutional series have examined the relationship of body mass index (BMI) in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and intraperitoneal chemotherapy (IPC) generally without significant increase in serious complications with increasing BMI. This study evaluates the impact of BMI on complication rates using a national cohort.

The ACS NSQIP database was queried for patients undergoing concurrent CRS with IPC (2005-2012). Death and serious morbidity (DSM) was the primary outcome. Statistical analyses were performed to determine significant associations between peri-operative factors and DSM.

Of 1,085 patients, there were 30.4% (n = 330) obese (BMI >30) and 32.1% (n = 348) normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9) patients. DSM rates did not differ between these groups (P = 0.853). Obese patients were more likely to experience post-operative wound (P = 0.017) and renal (P = 0.002) complications. Hypoalbuminemia (OR 7.34; 95% CI 2.27-23.73), prolonged operative time (OR 3.02; 95% CI 1.83-4.97) and concomitant liver resection (OR 3.29; 95% CI 1.31-8.28) were independent risk factors for DSM among obese patients.

Obesity is not significantly associated with DSM in patients undergoing CRS/IPC, and should not be a major deterrence for surgery. However, obese patients are more likely to experience wound and renal complications and hypoalbuminemia is a strong preoperative risk factor. J. Surg. Oncol. 2016;114:619-624. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.