Comparison of transumbilical and periumbilical median incisions in ovarian cancer surgery

Objective: The umbilicus is traditionally circumvented while performing a vertical midline abdominal incision. There is a gap in knowledge pertaining to avoiding the umbilicus. Our aim was to investigate whether a transumbilical (TU) or periumbilical (PU) midline incision conferred any advantage to the patient.

Material and methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing ovarian cancer surgery with a midline incision, from the pubic tubercle to the xiphoid. All surgery was performed by the same team of gyneacological oncologists. Patients were classified into two groups according to the midline incision used, TU or PU. The primary endpoint was the incision wound complication rate.

Results: TU and PU midline incisions were performed in 54 and 68 patients, respectively. There were no differences between the two groups in terms of patient characteristics and operative details. The two groups had comparable rates of complications, including wound infection (7.4% vs. 10.3%, p=0.75), deep surgical site infection (11.1% vs. 4.4%, p=0.18), evisceration (3.7% vs. 4.4%, p=0.99) and incisional hernia (33.3% vs. 33.8%, p=0.99).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that circumventing the umbilicus during laparotomy did not have any advantage. Future prospective randomized trials are warranted to validate this finding.