The impact of patient’s nutritional status on the development of postoperative complications in laparoscopic gastric resection

The objective was to evaluate the impact of patient’s nutritional status on the development of postoperative complications in laparoscopic gastric resection. Materials and methods . We conducted a retrospective study of patients who underwent laparoscopic distal gastric resection under combined general anesthesia at the Moscow Clinical Scientific Center named after A. S. Loginov from 2017 to 2021. We assessed the presence/absence of postoperative complications, albumin levels and total lymphocyte counts in all patients to determine malnutrition in the postoperative period. The statistical analysis of the data obtained and the determination of the correlation of parameters with postoperative complications were carried out. Results . 200 patients (52% women, 48% men) were included in the study. The average patient’s age was 68 (61–75) years, and the average body mass index (BMI) was 26 (23.75–29.0) kg/m 2 . Early postoperative complications were 24.5%: motor disorders (gastrostasis – 13.5%, intestinal paresis – 7.0%), fluid collections – 8.5%, postoperative pancreatitis and abdominal bleeding – 3.5% each, anastomosis leakage and pneumonia – 3%/; while 11% of patients had a combination of several types of complications. There were 64.5% patients with absolute lymphopenia and 38.5% with hypoalbuminemia in postoperative period. A correlation was revealed between the malnutrition and total postoperative complications (Kendall’s tau-b 0.194, p-value < 0.01) and anastomosis leakage (Kendall’s tau-b 0.240, p-value < 0.01). Conclusion . Absolute lymphopenia and hypoalbuminemia may be risk factors for postoperative complications.