BackgroundThis study aimed to evaluate the impact of postoperative complication and its etiology on long-term survival for gastric cancer (GC) patients with curative resection.MethodsFrom January 2009 to December 2014, a total of 1,667 GC patients who had undergone curative gastrectomy were analyzed. Patients with severe complications (SCs) (Clavien–Dindo grade III or higher complications or those causing a hospital stay of 15 days or longer) were separated into a “complication group.” Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to reveal the relationship between postoperative complications and long-term survival. A 2:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance baseline parameters between the two groups.ResultsSCs were diagnosed in 168 (10.08%) patients, including different etiology: infectious complications (ICs) in 111 (6.66%) and non-infectious complications (NICs) in 71 (4.26%) patients. Multivariate analysis showed that presence of SCs (P=0.001) was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival, and further analysis by complication type demonstrated that the deteriorated overall survival was mainly caused by ICs (P=0.004) rather than NICs (P=0.068). After PSM, patients with SCs (p=0.002) still had a significantly decreased overall survival, and the presence of ICs (P=0.002) rather than NICs (P=0.067) showed a negative impact on long-term survival.ConclusionSerious complications, particularly of an infectious type, may have a negative impact on overall survival of GC patients. However, additional multicenter prospective studies with larger sample size are required to verify this issue.
Sarcopenia is an Independent Predictor of Severe Postoperative Complications and Long-Term Survival After Radical Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer
