Multicenter prospective observational study of QoL after palliative surgery for patients with bowel obstruction caused by peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer.

Abstract

90 Background: Patients with peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer have poor oral intake caused by bowel obstruction. Palliative surgery has often been undertaken to improve quality of life (QoL), but there is no prospective study on palliative surgery. Methods: We prospectively examined the significance of palliative surgery for patients with poor oral intake caused by peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer using a patient-reported QoL measures. Eligibility criteria included histologically proven primary gastric adenocarcinoma presenting with bowel obstruction caused by peritoneal dissemination; presence of non-curable factors; extremely poor or no oral intake requiring parenteral nutrition. Patients underwent palliative surgery by small intestine/colon resection, small intestine/colon bypass or ileostomy/colostomy for bowel obstruction. The primary endpoint was change in QoL assessed at baseline, 14 days, 1 month and 3 months following surgical palliation by means of the Euro QoL Five Dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire gastric cancer module (QLQ-STO22). Secondary endpoints were postoperative improvement in oral intake and surgical complications. Results: Between May 2013 and March 2018, 63 patients (33 bypass and 28 stoma, 3 exploratory laparotomy) were enrolled from 14 institutions. The mean EQ-5D utility index baseline score of 0.6 remained consistent. Gastric-specific symptoms mostly showed statistically significant improvement from baseline. 42 patients (67%) were able to eat solid food 2 weeks after palliative surgery and 36 patients (57%) tolerated it for 3 months. The rate of overall morbidity of grade III or more according to the Clavien–Dindo classification was 15.8 per cent (10 patients) and the 30-day postoperative mortality rate was 3.2 per cent (2 patients). Conclusions: In patients with bowel obstruction caused by peritoneal dissemination of gastric cancer, palliative surgery maintained QoL while improving solid food intake, with acceptable operative morbidity and mortality rate. Clinical trial information: 000023495.