Purpose: The present study was performed to investigate the effects of the nutrition screening index and pulmonary function test data for patients who underwent surgery for esophageal cancer, based on the incidence of postoperative complications and the duration of postoperative hospitalization.
Subjects and methods: A total of 69 patients who received esophageal cancer resection were included in the study. It was determined how the parameters studied (ie, between ages, concomitant diabetes mellitus, body mass index( BMI), serum albumin level, Onodera's prognostic nutritional index, percentage of vital capacity(%VC), and forced expiratory volume[ FEV]1.0%) were related to the incidence of complications and the duration of postoperative hospital days, as expressed by the median days for all patients and the frequency of long-term hospitalization.
Results: The incidence of postoperative complications was significantly higher in patients aged 65 and above and those with a %VC value of less than 80%. The median duration of postoperative hospitalization was longer in those aged 65 and above and those with a FEV1.0% value of less than 70%, which was related to BMI. In addition, the frequency of long-term hospitalization was higher in those aged 65 and above, which was also related to BMI.
Conclusions: The results of the present study confirm that postoperative complications and length of postoperative hospital stay in patients with surgically treated esophageal cancer were largely dependent on their pulmonary function as well as age and BMI used for the nutrition screening index. Nutrition screening combined with pulmonary function tests, using age, BMI, %VC, and FEV1.0%, is considered desirable to avoid postoperative complications associated with esophageal cancer.