Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) and Intraoperative Electrolyte Disturbances—Implications for Anesthetic Management

The administration of hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is often associated with significant intraoperative electrolyte changes. We retrospectively examined the pre-HIPEC and post-HIPEC intraoperative basic metabolic panel (BMP) values of the 20 patients who underwent HIPEC at our institution between December 2009 and January 2012. For the five patients who underwent HIPEC with oxaliplatin in 5% dextrose in water (D5W), there were statistically significant changes between the preand post-HIPEC values of sodium (135 to 124 mmol/L), chloride (105 to 94 mmol/L), glucose (143 to 388 mg/dl) and sodium corrected for hyperglycemia (135 to 127 mmol/L). For the 14 patients who received HIPEC with mitomycin C in normal saline (NS), there were statistically significant changes in bicarbonate (24 to 21 meQ/L), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (10 to 9 mg/dl) and glucose (158 to 134 mg/dl). The BMP changes for the one patient who received doxorubicin/cisplatin in peritoneal dialysate are reported separately.