Two-stage cytoreductive surgery for 'extensive' pseudomyxoma peritonei: A legitimate alternative or salvage strategy?

Background and aim: Two-stage cytoreductive surgery (CRS) has been proposed as an alternative to one-stage surgery in patients who have 'extensive' pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) and/or are unfit for very extensive surgery, to reduce morbidity. We review current evidence on two-stage CRS focusing on patient selection, interval between procedures, extent of surgery, use of HIPEC, perioperative and oncological outcomes.

Methods: This is a narrative review. A literature search on PubMed and Embase was performed using keywords- 'Two-stage cytoreductive surgery', 'pseudomyxoma peritonei', 'high-volume PMP', 'huge PMP', 'cytoreductive surgery', 'HIPEC', 'staged surgery' and 'extensive pseudomyxoma peritonei'.

Results: Five studies reported outcomes in a total of 114 patients. The indications for two-stage CRS were: in two studies, patients undergoing an incomplete cytoreduction due to undue surgical risk were reevaluated for a second surgery during routine surveillance; severe comorbidities in one; extensive disease with PCI>28 in another and in one, only HIPEC was performed as a second procedure due to intraoperative hemodynamic instability (the two-stage procedure was performed in interest of patient's safety). Major morbidity ranged from 0 to 37.5 % (first-stage) and 25%-38.9 % (second-stage). Short term follow-up demonstrated equivalent short-term oncological outcomes compared to historical data. Long term follow-up and quality-of-life data were not available.

Conclusions: The published studies showed different interpretations and applications of the two-stage CRS concept. The reported morbidity was similar to that after single-stage CRS for extensive PMP. Though short-term survival outcomes are acceptable, long-term follow-up is needed. Planned two-stage CRS should currently be reserved for highly selected clinical situations.