Short-Term Safety Evaluation of Albumin-Bound Paclitaxel in Intraoperative and Postoperative Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy for Gastric Cancer

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the short-term safety of albumin-bound paclitaxel in hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) during and after gastric cancer (GC) surgery. Methods A retrospective analysis of clinical data was conducted for GC surgery patients at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, from January 2020 to September 2022. The study group (n = 120) received HIPEC and the control group (n = 268) did not receive albumin-bound paclitaxel. Short-term safety indicators including intraoperative complications, hematological toxicity, liver and kidney function, and gastrointestinal function recovery, were compared between the two groups. Results There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding intraoperative complications, hematological toxicity, liver and kidney function, and gastrointestinal function recovery time ( P > 0.05 for all). In the study group, patients were further divided into subgroups based on dose and timing. Subgroup analysis revealed no significant differences among the different dose subgroups. However, when focusing on timing subgroups, postoperative subgroup exhibited significantly higher white blood cell counts and bilirubin levels compared to intraoperative subgroup, while the intraoperative subgroup had significantly higher bilirubin levels compared to both postoperative and intraoperative plus postoperative subgroups. Conclusion Albumin-bound paclitaxel demonstrates good safety and tolerability in HIPEC during and after GC surgery, without increasing the risk of intraoperative complications.