Background: Cytoreductive surgery combined with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is an aggressive strategy to treat patients presenting peritoneal carcinomatosis from various origins. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the peritoneal cavity's capacity and the weight, the size and the body mass index (BMI) of patients to see if it would be relevant to adapt the pharmacology of HIPEC based on these factors.
Materials and methods: This study included 100 patients who had chest-abdominal-pelvic Computerised Tomography (CAP-CT) for various reasons. They were chosen randomly (53 males; 47 females; age range 19-96; mean 58 years). Weight and height of each of them were recorded with their identity on a model sheet given to nurses accustomed to work in clinical trials, before the CAP-CT. The BMI was then calculated from these two values. All the subjects were scanned with CT (Philips Brilliance 40, Cleveland, USA) and the volume of the peritoneal cavity, the liver and the spleen of each was measured with Centricity PACS LS software or Volume Viewer 2 (AW Suite 2.0 6.5.1 u) software.
Results: The rates of correlation between the weight, the size, the BMI and the volume of the peritoneal cavity in which the volumes of the liver and the spleen were removed are 0.674, 0.317 and 0.576, respectively; and those of the weight, the size, the BMI and the volume of the peritoneal cavity without taking into account the volume occupied by the liver and spleen are 0.749, 0.348 and 0.644, respectively.
Conclusion: The peritoneal cavity's capacity is mainly correlated with weight and the interest to assess the volume of liver and spleen remains questionable in terms of results.