Clinical Impact of Weight Loss During Hospitalization on Prognosis After Pancreatic Surgery

Purpose This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between early-stage weight loss (WL) during hospitalization after pancreatic surgery and prognosis and investigate risk factors affecting WL. Methods We included 68 patients diagnosed with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) who underwent radical surgery. The %WL value was calculated based on the percentage of body weight at discharge compared with the body weight at admission. High WL was defined as %WL >10%. We initially evaluated the association between %WL and postoperative survival using the Kaplan-Meier method. Subsequently, we analyzed the factors affecting %WL using a logistic regression model. Results In terms of overall survival (OS), the high %WL group exhibited a significantly worse prognosis than the low %WL group (p=0.043). Univariate analysis revealed a hazard ratio of 2.244 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.006-5.006; p=0.048) for high %WL in relation to overall survival. Multivariate analysis identified an operative time >450 min (odds ratio, 17.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-312.42; p=0.049) and postoperative complications (odds ratio, 12.1; 95% confidence interval, 2.01-72.79; p<0.01) as independent risk factors for high %WL. Conclusion Preventing high %WL by streamlining surgical procedures, minimizing postoperative complications, and implementing medical nutritional therapy (MNT) is imperative to improve the prognosis of patients with PDAC.