Effect of hyperthermic chemotherapy on topical hemostatic agents

There is no clear consensus as to which topical hemostatic agent is best used during cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of hyperthermic chemotherapy on the biomechanical properties of organic topical hemostatic agents and histologically fibrin formation rates.

Four topical hemostatic agents (Spongostan™, Surgicel^®, Fibrillar™, Arista^®) were evaluated. All agents were mixed with 3 ml blood in sterile tubes separately to form clot formation. The resulting clot formations were incubated with 36 °C and 42 °C with saline or cisplatin for 1 h. Strength and flexibility of hemostatic samples were evaluated under weight of 0 g, 50 g, 100 g, 200 g and 300 g. All samples were stained with hemotoxylin-eosin and compared histologically for fibrin clot formation under light microscope.

There were no statistically significant differences according to strength and flexibility of topical hemostatic agents on hyperthermic chemotherapy. Histopathologically, the highest fibrin formation was observed in Surgicel^®, followed by Fibrillar™. The least fibrin formation was detected in Arista^®.

This study demonstrated that exposure to hyperthermic chemotherapy did not significantly affect the biomechanical properties of organic topical hemostatic agents and the fibrin clot formation.