Therapeutic rationale and data set for reporting cytoreductive surgery specimens

Abstract

The histopathological grade/histological subtype is one of the most important prognostic markers in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery (CRS). There are other factors like the extent of disease (pathological PCI), disease distribution in the peritoneal cavity, lymph node involvement, pathological response to chemotherapy and morphological findings that may have prognostic value. Currently, there are no guidelines for pathological evaluation and synoptic reporting of peritonectomy or CRS specimens. Standardized methods of synoptic reporting of these specimens could help capture vital prognostic information that may in future influence how these patients are treated. This chapter describes existing practices pertaining to histopathological analysis of CRS specimens and provides a data set for synoptic reporting of these specimens based on the authors’ experience.