Although, useful in inflammatory conditions, the greater omentum represents an important site of metastasis in peritoneal carcinomatosis and is therefore frequently removed as a staging or therapeutic tool. Apart from the milky spots, omental adipose stem cells, and adipocytes have recently been identified to play a role in the preferential homing of tumor cells to the omentum. The extent of omentectomy and whether a routine omentectomy should be done are still known unknowns.
Keywords: adipocytes; adipose stem cells; milky spots; omental metastases; pathophysiology.
© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.