Background: Gastrectomy with systemic lymphadenectomy is the standard of care for resectable gastric cancer (GC), but it is sometimes associated with postoperative morbidity. Predicting complications is therefore an essential part of risk management in clinical practice. The renal function is routinely evaluated before surgery by blood examinations to determine dose of medication and infusion. However, the value of various parameters of renal function in prediction of postoperative complications remain unclear.
Methods: We included 315 patients who underwent curative D2 gastrectomy for clinical T2-T4 GC without preoperative treatment, and evaluated the correlation between the incidence of postoperative complications and the indicators of renal function.
Results: Forty-three patients experienced clinically relevant postoperative complications. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) showed a higher area under the curve for predicting complications compared with urea nitrogen, creatinine, and creatinine clearance. The optimal eGFR cutoff value was 63.2 ml/min/1.73 m2, and eGFR < 63.2 was an independent risk factor for postoperative complications in multivariable analysis (odds ratio 4.67; 95 % confidence interval 2.16-10.5; p < 0.001). Particularly, the incidence of anastomotic leakage was significantly higher in patients with eGFR < 63.2 than those with eGFR ≥ 63.2 (9.4 % vs. 3.5 %). eGFR < 63.2 was also associated with a higher incidence of postoperative complications independent of age, body mass index, operative procedure, and clinical disease stage. Postoperative hospital stay was significantly longer in the eGFR < 63.2 group.
Conclusions: Preoperative eGFR is a simple and useful predictor for complications after gastrectomy in patients with GC and may improve clinical care and the process of obtaining informed consent.
Keywords: Estimated glomerular filtration rate; Gastrectomy; Gastric cancer; Postoperative complication.