Age clinically serves as a simple predictor of survival in patients with gastric cancer and should be taken into account along with conventional clinicopathological variables such as depth of invasion and lymph node metastasis.

Background Several studies investigated the utility of inflammation and nutritional markers in predicting the prognosis in patients with gastric cancer; however, the markers with the best predictive ability remain unclear. This retrospective study aimed to determine inflammation and nutritional markers that predicted prognosis in elderly patients over 75 years of age undergoing curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods Between January 2005 and December 2015, 497 consecutive elderly gastric cancer patients aged over 75 years underwent curative gastrectomy in 12 institutions. The geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI), prognostic nutritional index, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet/lymphocyte ratio, and C-reactive protein/albumin ratio were examined as prognostic markers for overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) using area under the curve (AUC) using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results The GNRI had the highest AUC and predictive value for both OS (0.637, p < 0.001) and DSS (AUC 0.645, p < 0.001). The study cohort was categorized into the high and low GNRI groups based on the optimal GNRI cut-off values for OS (97.0) and DSS (95.8) determined with the ROC analysis. For both OS and DSS, there was a significant correlation between the GNRI and several clinicopathological factors including age, body mass index, albumin, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status score, depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastasis, lymphatic invasion, pathological stage, operation duration, bleeding, procedure, approach, death due to primary disease, and death due to other disease. The GNRI remained a crucial independent prognostic factor for both OS (Hazard ratio [HR] = 1.905, p < 0.001) and DSS in multivariate analysis (HR = 1.780, p = 0.043). Conclusions Among a panel of inflammation and nutritional markers, the GNRI exhibited the best performance as a prognostic factor after curative gastrectomy in elderly patients with gastric cancer, indicating its utility as a simple and promising index for predicting OS and DSS in these patients.

Backgrounds/AimsThe prognostic nutritional index (PNI) is based on the albumin concentration and absolute lymphocyte count and is designed to assess the nutritional and immunological status of patients. In this study, we evaluated the prognostic importance of the preoperative and postoperative PNI in patients who underwent curative resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).MethodsFrom 2006 to 2017, 50 patients with PDAC underwent curative resection at our hospital. We performed distal pancreatectomy (DP) with splenectomy in 15 patients, pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) in 27 patients, PD combined with portal vein partial resection in 6 patients, and total pancreatectomy with splenectomy in 2 patients. We compared the preoperative PNI and postoperative PNI (1 and 2 months postoperatively) and analyzed the prognostic importance for these patients. ResultsThe mean PNI significantly decreased from 45.5 preoperatively to 39.8 at 1 month postoperatively (p<0.001), but recovered to 42.7 at 2 months postoperatively. In 23 patients, the PNI at 2 months postoperatively recovered to the preoperative level (recovered group), but in the remaining 27 patients, the PNI at 2 months postoperatively did not reach the preoperative level (non-recovered group). The overall median survival time in the recovered group (29 months) was significantly longer than that in the non-recovered group (12 months, p=0.003). The multivariate overall analysis demonstrated that good recovery of the postoperative PNI was strongly correlated with a better prognosis.ConclusionsEffective postoperative nutrition may have a prognostic benefit for patients with operable PDAC.

Background Development of laparoscopic gastrectomy and the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol enable early discharge to home of patients with gastric cancer (GC). However, a significant proportion of patients are still discharged to inpatient facilities after surgery. We aimed to identify predictive factors of non-home discharge in patients with GC who undergo gastrectomy. Methods We enrolled 517 patients with histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of GC who underwent gastrectomy. ResultsThe number of patients with non-home discharge was 23 (4.4%), and non-home discharge was only observed in patients with GC aged C65 years. Patients were divided into the mFI High (C0.272) and mFI Low (\0.272) groups according to the cut-off value determined by ROC analysis. The mFI High classification was significantly more frequent in patients aged C75 years, who underwent either total or proximal partial gastrectomy, who underwent limited lymph node dissection, and with non-home discharge than in patients aged \75 years (p = 0.0002), those who underwent distal partial gastrectomy (p = 0.032), those who underwent standard lymph node dissection (p = 0.036), and those without non-home discharge (p = 0.0071). Multivariate analysis revealed mFI as an independent predictive indicator of non-home discharge, along with postoperative complications and surgical approach, in patients with GC aged C65 years. The frequency of patients with non-home discharge was significantly associated with the number of these three predictive factors in GC patients aged C65 years (p \ 0.0001). Conclusions The combination of mFI, postoperative complications, and surgical approach is useful for predicting non-home discharge in patients aged C65 years who underwent gastrectomy for GC.

Background Patients who undergo gastrectomy for gastric cancer (GC) are likely to have nutritional difficulty after surgery. Readmission due to nutritional difficulty is common in such patients. Thus, in this study, we aim to identify the predictive indicators for readmission due to nutritional difficulty in patients who underwent gastrectomy for GC. Methods We retrospectively reviewed surgical outcomes in 516 consecutive patients who underwent gastrectomy for GC. Results The readmission rate within 1 year was 13.8%. Readmission due to nutritional difficulty was observed in 20 patients (3.9%); it was determined as the second leading cause of readmission. Multivariate analysis revealed that the type of gastrectomy and the modified frailty index (mFI) were independent predictive indicators of readmission due to nutritional difficulty. Patients were assigned 1 point for each predictive indicator, and the total points were calculated (point 0, point 1, or point 2). The readmission rates due to nutritional difficulty were 1.2%, 4.7%, and 11.5% in patients with 0, 1, and 2 points, respectively (P = 0.0008). Conclusions The readmission rate due to nutritional difficulty was noted to be high in patients who underwent total or proximal partial gastrectomy with high mFI. Intensive follow-up and nutritional support are needed to reduce readmissions due to nutritional difficulty. Reduced readmission rates can improve patient quality of life and reduce medical costs.

Background Immune-check point inhibitors (ICPIs) for treatment of cancer patients sometimes induce potentially life-threatening immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which predict ICPIs treatment efficacy. Prediction of irAEs would be useful for management of irAEs and prediction of ICPIs efficacy. This study aimed to determine predictors of irAEs in patients with recurrent or unresectable advanced gastric cancer (RUGC) treated with nivolumab. Methods Seventy-eight RUGC patients treated with nivolumab at nine institutions between January 2017 and April 2020 were included in this study. The usefulness of specific blood test results as predictors of irAEs was evaluated. Results We observed irAEs in 15 (19.2%) patients. The disease control rate was significantly higher in the patients with irAEs than in those without (86.7% vs. 42.9%; P < 0.001). The median progression-free survival was significantly longer for patients with irAEs than for patients without (4.9 vs. 2.6 months; P = 0.018). The median survival time was longer for patients with irAEs than for those without (9.4 vs. 5.8 months; P = 0.041). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for irAEs indicated that the area under the curve (AUC) of carbohydrate antigen 19–9 (CA19-9) was highest (0.692; P = 0.022), followed by that for the platelet count × serum C-reactive protein (P-CRP) value (0.680; P = 0.032). The AUC for the CA19-9 + P-CRP combination was 0.782, which was more useful than that for either component and significantly associated with overall survival of nivolumab-treated RUGC patients. Conclusions The CA19-9 + P-CRP combination was predictive of irAEs and prognosis in RUGC patients.

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