OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical value of sequential intraoperative peritoneal lavage in reducing the positive rate of peritoneal exfoliated tumor cells.

METHODSSix sequential intraoperative peritoneal lavages were performed in each of the 63 patients with rectal cancer, with three before resection and three post resection, which were then compared by using cytological smear examination.

RESULTSExfoliated tumor cells were positive in the first three intraoperative peritoneal lavages of all the 63 patients before resection. The cytological smear examination of the three peritoneal lavage fluids after excision revealed that 40 cases were positive at the first lavage, 33 at the second and 13 at the third. The positive rate between the first and the second post-resection peritoneal lavages showed no significant difference (P>0.05), while the positive rate of the third lavage was significantly lower than the second after resection (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSequential intraoperative peritoneal lavages is a useful method in reducing the positive rate of peritoneal exfoliated tumor cells in patients with rectal cancer.