Impact of Preoperative Care for Rectal Adenocarcinoma on Pathologic Specimen Quality and Postoperative Morbidity: A NSQIP Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Comprehensive and multidisciplinary care are critical in rectal cancer treatment. We sought to determine if completeness of preoperative care was associated with pathologic specimen quality and postoperative morbidity. STUDY DESIGN: Clinical stage I-III rectal adenocarcinoma patients who underwent elective low anterior resection or abdominoperineal resection were identified from the 2016-2017 American College of Surgeons-National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (ACS-NSQIP) database. The 3 preoperative NSQIP variables (colonoscopy, stoma marking, and neoadjuvant chemoradiation) were used to divide patients into 2 cohorts: complete vs incomplete preoperative care. The primary outcome was a composite higher pathologic specimen quality score (>12 lymph nodes, negative circumferential, and negative distal margins). The secondary outcome was 30-day morbidity. Preoperative characteristics were compared with ANOVAs and chi-square tests. Outcomes measures were evaluated with logistic regression. RESULTS: We identified 1,125 patients: 591 (52.5%) complete and 534 (47.5%) incomplete. The complete group was younger, had more women, lower-third rectal tumors, clinical stage III disease, and neoadjuvant treatment. The complete group had higher odds of better pathologic specimen quality after adjusting for age, sex, tumor location, stage, and neoadjuvant therapy (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.75, p = 0.001). The complete group had decreased rates of transfusions (odds ratio [OR] 0.47, p < 0.001), postoperative ileus (OR 0.67, p = 0.01), sepsis (OR 0.32, p = 0.01), and readmissions (OR 0.60, p = 0.003). Other complications did not statistically differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Complete preoperative care in rectal adenocarcinoma is associated with higher pathologic specimen quality and reduced postoperative morbidity. This highlights the importance of adherence to guideline-directed care.