Patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery for peritoneal malignancy of appendiceal origin should be consented for...

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) for peritoneal malignancy has traditionally included umbilical excision with no published evidence on the incidence of umbilical involvement. The primary aim of this work was to determine the incidence of umbilical involvement in patients undergoing CRS for peritoneal malignancy of appendiceal origin. The secondary aim was to investigate the relationship of umbilical involvement with prior surgery affecting the umbilicus, such as diagnostic laparoscopy and midline laparotomy.

This study is from a national referral centre in the United Kingdom for appendiceal tumours and peritoneal malignancy. It is a retrospective analysis from a dedicated prospective database. We evaluated the most recent 200 consecutive patients who underwent CRS for peritoneal malignancy of appendiceal origin where all pathology specimens were reported by a recognized expert pathologist in appendiceal tumours and peritoneal malignancy.

From June 2016 to September 2019, 200 consecutive patients had CRS and 178 had umbilical excision. Of these 54/178 (30.3%) had disease involving the umbilicus. The pathological findings in the 178 patients were low-grade mucinous carcinoma peritonei in 90/178 (50.6%), high-grade mucinous carcinoma peritonei in 31/178 (17.4%), metastatic appendiceal adenocarcinoma in 29/178 (16.4%) and diffuse acellular mucin in 28/178 (15.7%). Umbilical involvement was found in 25/90 (27.8%) with low-grade, 11/31 (35.5%) with high-grade, 8/29 (27.6%) with adenocarcinoma and 10/28 (35.7%) of patients with acellular mucin. In the 54 patients with umbilical disease, 30/54 (55.6%) had previous diagnostic surgery affecting the umbilicus. In the 124 patients without umbilical disease, 76/124 (61.2%) had prior surgery involving the umbilicus. The difference between the groups was not significant (p = 0.24).

In patients with peritoneal malignancy of appendiceal origin, approximately 30% have umbilical involvement, irrespective of the primary appendiceal pathology. Umbilical involvement was not associated with prior surgery involving the umbilicus. This is the first report to document the incidence of umbilical pathology and supports consideration of routine umbilical excision in CRS for peritoneal malignancy.