This page was reviewed under our medical and editorial policy by
Ruchi Garg, MD, Chair, Gynecologic Oncology, City of Hope Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix.
This page was reviewed on January 18, 2022.
An omentectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the omentum, an area of tissue rich in blood vessels covering the intestines and other organs in the abdomen.
Sometimes, an omentectomy is done because cancer (such as ovarian cancer) has spread to the area. Other times, your care team may recommend it to help determine the stage of the cancer.
An omentectomy is most frequently used in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer. In these cases, the expert performing your surgery should be a surgeon trained in treating ovarian cancer, such as a gynecologic oncologist.
Other surgeries may be performed along with an omentectomy to stage or treat ovarian cancer. These procedures include:
Ahead of an omentectomy, you should expect to meet the cancer care team involved with your surgery, such as the operating doctor. Your care team will make sure you’re physically fit enough for surgery. This is important to make sure that your body can handle the anesthesia and that you can recover properly afterward.
Some of the tests you may undergo before your omentectomy include:
These steps may help prepare for an omentectomy:
Before the omentectomy, you will receive anesthesia for surgery. Doctors may perform an omentectomy in one of three ways:
Your care team may perform other necessary surgeries as well at the same time, such as removal of an ovarian cancer.
Omentectomy patients typically stay in the hospital for two to four days.
The benefit of an omentectomy is to remove cancer if it’s spread to the omentum or to help stage the cancer to determine the most beneficial treatment.
Cancer surgeries, such as an omentectomy, can cause side effects including temporary tenderness or pain. It's normal to feel discomfort or even pain for a few days as your body heals, especially if you’ve had other procedures at the same time. An omentectomy may cause fluid retention due to blocked lymphatic blood vessels. You may have difficulty using the bathroom, both urinating and passing stool, during this period. As with any type of surgery, there’s also the risk for an infection, bleeding or nerve damage.
One very specific risk of an omentectomy is recurrence of an adhesive small bowel obstruction, a type of blockage in the digestive tract.
Your doctor may review the results with you—not only the findings of the omentectomy, but also those of any other surgery done at the same time. If the procedure was done to help determine the stage of cancer, these findings will help to formulate the treatment options recommended by your care team.