Purpose: This study was designed to examine the impact of an omentoplasty and its quality on pelviperineal morbidity after abdominoperineal resection (APR) for rectal cancer.
Methods: This was a retrospective single-centre study of consecutive patients undergoing APR for primary or recurrent rectal cancer between 2000 and 2018. Quality of omentoplasty was categorised (sufficient vs insufficient) based on postoperative CT scans. Main study endpoints were perineal wound healing and perineal hernia.
Results: This study included 100 patients: 16 with a sufficient omentoplasty, 16 with an insufficient omentoplasty, and 68 without omentoplasty. Rate of pelviperineal complications within 30 days was 44%, 69% and 64% (P = 0.283), and delayed wound healing at 3 months was 19%, 54% and 27%, respectively (P = 0.109). Sufficient omentoplasty was not significantly associated with less delayed healing in multivariable analysis (OR 0.597; 95% CI 0.149-2.397). An insufficient omentoplasty demonstrated significantly higher rates of delayed healing at 6 months (46% vs 14%; P = 0.016) and chronic perineal sinus at 12 months (31% vs 3%; P = 0.008) compared with no omentoplasty.
Conclusion: This relatively small series suggest that even a sufficient omentoplasty, as determined by postoperative imaging, does not reduce pelviperineal morbidity after APR for rectal cancer. The methodology of CT-based assessment of an omentoplasty as well as the correlation with postoperative outcomes has to be validated in future studies.
Keywords: Abdominoperineal resection; Omentoplasty; Perineal herniation; Perineal wound healing; Rectal neoplasms.