The Clinical Impact of Postoperative Complications After Gastric Cancer Surgery for the Clinical Course of Adjuvant Treatment and Survival

BACKGROUND/AIM: This study investigated whether postoperative complications (POCs) have a direct negative impact on survival or indirectly worsen survival outcomes by impairing the administration of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with stage II/III gastric cancer (GC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were retrospectively selected from the database of the Department of Gastric Surgery at the Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital (Tokyo, Japan). POCs were defined as postoperative complications of Clavien-Dindo grade II-V. Patients were categorized into two groups: those with POCs (C group) and those without POCs (NC group). RESULTS: <0.001). CONCLUSION: POCs were associated with poorer survival and adversely affected the administration of adjuvant chemotherapy after gastric cancer surgery. These findings suggest that POCs not only have a direct negative impact on survival but also indirectly worsen prognosis by compromising the delivery of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.