Introduction/Background Splenectomy predisposes to infections and is related to severe sepsis known as overwhelming post-splenectomy infection (OPSI). In the present study we sought to determine the incidence of postoperative infections and sepsis in ovarian cancer patients, evaluate the significance of potential predisposing factors and investigate the impact of sepsis in survival outcomes of ovarian cancer patients.

Methodology We conducted a retrospective cohort study. Surgical complexity was evaluated with the Mayo Clinic score classifying patients into low, intermediate and high complexity score using predetermined cut-off values of <2, 3–6 and >7 respectively. To evaluate the potential severity of transfusion related immunomodulation (TRALI) we subgrouped patients to three groups according to the number of intraoperative and postoperative red blood cell transfusions (no transfusion, 1–2 units, >3 units). Sepsis was defined as the presence of known infection accompanied by two criteria of those required for the determination of the presence of systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

Results Outcomes from 85 ovarian cancer patients that undergone maximal effort procedures were evaluated. Of those, 65 women undergone high complexity score procedures, whereas 20 women undergone intermediate complexity score procedures. There were no differences in the pre-operative body mass index, age, hemoglobin and white blood cells of patients that developed sepsis compared to those that did not. The complexity score of the operation did not correlate with the occurrence of sepsis. Patients that did not receive transfusion had improved overall survival rates compared to those that did, although differences were not significant (log-rank=.224). The development of postoperative sepsis significantly affected the overall survival rates of patients (log-rank=.005).

Conclusion Post-splenectomy sepsis has a direct impact on survival rates of ovarian cancer patients, however, factors affecting the occurrence of sepsis remain poorly understood.

Disclosures No conflicts of interest. The present study was not funded.