A prospective multicenter observational study of surgical palliation examining postoperative quality of life in patients treated for malignant gastric outlet obstruction caused by incurable advanced gastric cancer.

Abstract

6 Background: Decision-making for surgical palliation remains one of the most challenging clinical scenarios since quality of life (QOL) is a key component of cancer care. We conducted this study to examine the impacts of surgical palliation on postoperative QOL in patients (pts) with malignant gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) caused by incurable primary gastric cancer (GC). Methods: Eligibility included (1) no oral intake or liquids only requiring parenteral nutrition (2) aged ≥20 (3) surgically fit (4) ECOG PS of 0-2 and (5) written IC. Patients underwent either palliative distal/total gastrectomy (DG/TG) or gastrojejunostomy (GJS). Treatment choice was left to the discretion of the physician. Validated QOL instruments (EORTC QLQ-STO22 and EuroQol-5D) assessed QOL at baseline, 2 weeks (wks), 1 month (m), and 3 months following the surgical palliation, and two observational outcomes (postoperative improvement of oral intake, and safety of surgical intervention) were evaluated. Results: 104 pts, 71 males and 33 females with a median age of 68 years, were enrolled. The types of surgery were DG in 23 pts, TG in 9 pts, GJS in 70 in pts, and exploratory laparotomy in 2 pts. Baseline QOL questionnaires were completed by 103 (99.0%) pts. Among the 104 pts, 98 (94.2%), 100 (96.1%), and 81 (77.9%) completed the 2-wk, 1-m, and 3-m follow-up survey, respectively. The mean baseline EQ-5D score was 0.74 (SD, 0.21). During the follow-up period, the mean scores remained consistent with the baseline scores; the change from baseline score was within ± 0.05 for the index. Many pts came to eat solid food at 2 wks postsurgery and remained tolerable thereafter (from 0 at baseline to 82, 85, 75 pts at 2 wks, 1 m, and 3 ms, respectively). Overall morbidity rate of ≥grade 3 on Clavien-Dindo classification and 30-day postoperative mortality rate was 9.6% (10 pts) and 2.0% (2 pts) with a median hospital stay of 13 days and re-operation rate of 3.9% (4 pts). Conclusions: In pts with malignant GOO caused by advanced GC, surgical palliation maintained patient QOL while improving solid food intake with an acceptable surgical safety. Clinical trial information: UMIN000023494.