Abdominal Wall Reconstruction in a Terminal-Stage Peritoneal Cancer Patient after Emergency Debulking Procedure: A Case Report

Abstract

Late-stage peritoneal cancer is a grave disease with a high morbidity rate; palliative care is the mainstay of treatment. In this article, we present a case of a terminal-stage cancer patient with sustained growth of the tumor. The mass was large enough to invade into the abdominal wall, and cause bowel obstruction as well as major vessel compression. From supportive care, we made a rapid pivot to emergent en bloc resection of the mass with a significant portion of the abdominal wall in one piece. After resection, a major part of the abdominal layers was deficient and required reconstruction. Due to rapid deterioration of the patient’s condition, we changed our plan from autologous reconstruction to prosthesis-based reconstruction. Through this report, we share our decision-making process for reconstruction method selection, and practical considerations in the intraoperative setting.