The correlation between preoperative nutritional parameters and postoperative complications in 440 patients with gastric cancer were analyzed. All the nutritional parameters reflected a significant deterioration as the stages of cancer progressed, and the frequency of postoperative complications was highest in patients with stage IV gastric cancer. The incidence of anastomotic leaks was increased in patients undergoing total gastrectomy with no relation to the clinical stage or nutritional status. However, there was a close relationship between nutritional status and immunocompetence, lung complications, and infection. The nutritional indices which reliably predicted preoperatively the nutritional status of cancer patients were the serum protein concentrations including the serum albumin (Alb) and prealbumin (PA). The indices predicting postoperative complications were the Alb, PA, and total lymphocyte count. These results suggest that preoperative nutritional assessment can be beneficial for the prediction of postoperative complications.
To clarify the risk factors contributing to postoperative complications in the elderly patients (over 70 years) undergoing esophagectomy and/or gastrectomy, 364 patients with primary cancer seen were evaluated. As a result, some characteristic patterns of stress response in the elderly could be detected as follows: the disorders of the vital organs were more important indices for the development of postoperative complications rather than age, and a reduction in the maximum response of the stress hormones to surgical procedures in aged patients was noted; moreover, the functional variability of target organ in the aged group was confirmed. Studies on the hormonal response to surgery suggest that the restriction of fluid replacement is advisable until the third postoperative day, maintaining the host on the dry side, to prevent cardiopulmonary complications. As the nutritional status in the patients with esophageal and gastric cancer goes from bad to worse with the advancing clinical stages, adequate perioperative nutrition is imperative to prevent complications such as anastomotic leakage, wound dehiscence, and/or infections. For the treatment of anastomotic leaks after esophagectomy and esophagogastrectomy, more than 45 kcal/kg/d must be provided, and the serum albumin level must be restored to 3.5 g/dL in order to achieve spontaneous healing of small anastomotic leakages.
The postoperative pulmonary complications in 25 patients undergoing subtotal oesophagectomy for intrathoracic oesophageal carcinoma during the 3-year period 1981-1983 were compared with those of 25 patients undergoing surgery from 1984 to 1986. Although more extensive lymphadenectomies were performed from 1984, the mortality rate caused by the postoperative pulmonary complications was zero in the later period (1984-1986) compared with a rate of 16 per cent in the earlier period (1981-1983). The incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications was lower in the later series but the difference was not statistically significant. Factors which may have contributed to the decrease in critical pulmonary complications after surgery during the later period were the selection of the posterior mediastinal route for reconstruction, the introduction of selective endobronchial intubation by a double lumen tube with combined epidural anaesthesia, fluid restriction during and after surgery, postoperative mobilization and the administration of an expectorant.
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