Correlation between peritoneal lavage cytology and tumour stage in patients with colorectal cancer

Background and study aims: Complete surgical removal of the involved bowel segment in colorectal cancer is the most effective primary treatment. The main prognostic factors for colorectal cancer are penetration of the tumour into different layers of the bowel wall and regional lymph node involvement. Positive lavage cytology has been used to predict peritoneal recurrence, but its effectiveness remains controversial. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of positive peritoneal lavage cytology in correlation with the tumour stage in patients with colorectal cancer. Patients and methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was performed on 20 patients with different cases of colorectal cancer attending the colorectal unit and emergency department of the Kasr Al Ainy Hospital, Cairo University Hospitals, from March 2012 to March 2013. Results: The patients' gender did not influence the peritoneal lavage cytology results (p = 0.062); there is no significant correlation between the TNM staging system and cytology in patients with colorectal cancer (p = 0.253). Conclusion: Although there is a positive linear correlation between the tumour stage and positive peritoneal lavage cytology, it did not reach a statistically significant level. In addition, the greater the depth of invasion, the higher the lavage cytology rate. However, this trend was not statistically significant. (C) 2015 Arab Journal of Gastroenterology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.