Impact of Sarcopenic Obesity on Long-Term Cancer Outcomes and Postoperative Complications After Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of sarcopenia in gastric cancer (GC), although varying among the reported studies, is around 60%. In the last few years, it has been recognised that sarcopenia can also occur not only in patients with weight loss and low body weight, but also in patients with normal or increased body mass index. Therefore, the term sarcopenic obesity (SO) is a new definition that further expands the implications of altered body composition. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of SO on the perioperative morbidity and the survival of GC patients undergoing gastrectomy by evaluating body composition on CT images. METHODS: Preoperative CT scans were obtained from all patients with a diagnosis of GC undergoing gastrectomy with curative intent between January 2012 and December 2019. Skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) cross-sectional area at the level of the transverse processes of the third lumbar vertebra (L3) were measured. Sarcopenia and obesity were defined according to sex-specific cut-off points. RESULTS: After analysing 190 patients, the prevalence of SO was 21.1% (40 patients) and sarcopenia was 14.7% (28 patients). Multivariate analysis showed that corporal composition was an independent factor of overall survival (p = 0.049). Logistic regression was performed to identify risk factors associated with postoperative complications. SO was identified as a risk factor for serious Clavien-Dindo complications > IIIb/IV [OR 2.82 (1.1-7.1); p = 0.028]. CONCLUSION: SO was a risk factor for severe postoperative complications as well as worse long-term oncological after a gastrectomy for GC.

Influence of positive margins on tumour recurrence and overall survival after gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Incidence of positive surgical margins after curative gastrectomy ranges from 1% to 20%. It has been suggested that positive surgical margin is an adverse prognosis factor, with a higher local recurrence and worse overall survival (OS). However, the management of these patients remains unclear. METHODS: A total of 267 patients who underwent gastrectomy with curative intent between January 2010 and December 2018 in our centre were enrolled in this study. Post-operative histological analysis revealed positive resection margins in 18 patients (8%). Clinicopathological features and outcome of patients undergoing gastrectomy with negative and positive margins were compared. RESULTS: Patients with positive margins were associated with higher American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, T stage, N stage, median number of positive nodes, diffuse Lauren type, whole stomach involved and poorly differentiated tumours. Local recurrence was described in 50% of cases with positive margins. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that the TNM stage was the only independent prognostic factor associated with recurrence. OS for positive margins at 1, 3 and 5 years was 75%, 57% and 26%, respectively. The median survival in patients with positive margins was 38.33 versus 81.17 months for R0 patients (p = 0.027). Multivariate analysis showed that age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.041, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.07, sex (HR 2.00, 95% CI 1.22-3.30) and TNM stage (p < 0.001) were independent factors of OS. CONCLUSION: Positive resection margin was an indication of advanced and more aggressive disease rather than an independent prognosis factor for OS or recurrence in gastric cancer.

Impact of interval timing to surgery on tumor response after neoadjuvant treatment for gastric cancer.

INTRODUCTION: neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) followed by radical surgery is the optimal approach for locally advanced gastric cancer (GC). Interval timing to surgery after NACT in GC is controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of NACT interval time on tumor response and overall survival. MATERIAL AND METHODS: a retrospective analysis from a prospective database was performed at a single referral tertiary hospital, from January 2010 to October 2018. Patients were assigned to three groups according to the surgical interval time after NACT: < 4 weeks, 4-6 weeks and > 6 weeks. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed in order to clarify the impact of NACT on post-neoadjuvant pathological complete response rate (ypCR), downstaging (DS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: of the 60 patients analyzed, 18 patients (30 %) had an interval time to surgery < 4 weeks, 26 (43.3 %) between 4-6 weeks and 16 (26.7 %) > 6 weeks. Two patients (3 %) had achieved ypCR and 37 patients (62 %) had achieved DS. There were no differences in DS rates among the interval time groups (p: 0.66). According to the multivariate analysis, only poorly differentiated carcinoma was significantly related to lower DS rates (p: 0.04). Cox regression analysis showed that the NACT interval time had no impact on OS. According to the multivariate analysis, > 25 lymph node harvested (HR: 0.35) and female sex (HR: 5.67) were OS independent predictors. CONCLUSIONS: the NACT interval time prior gastrectomy for locally advanced GC is not associated with ypCR or DS and has no impact on overall survival.