Postoperative Early Body Weight Loss Is a Risk Factor for Recurrence in Patients with pStage III Gastric Cancer

Abstract

Introduction: The goal of this study was to determine whether postoperative early body weight loss (EWL) after radical gastrectomy is a risk factor for recurrence in patients with pathological stage III (pStage III) gastric cancer who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, which included tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil (S-1). Methods: Patients who underwent gastrectomy for gastric cancer were identified from a prospectively managed gastric cancer database. We analyzed 58 consecutive patients who underwent radical gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection for confirmed pStage III gastric cancer treated postoperatively with adjuvant chemotherapy including S-1 between 2010 and 2019. Clinical and pathologic characteristics, baseline body mass index (BMI), and postoperative weights were extracted. Weight changes were evaluated from the preoperative period to the start of adjuvant chemotherapy. EWL was defined as % BMI change = (preoperative BMI – postoperative BMI at the start of adjuvant chemotherapy) × 100/preoperative BMI. Results: Of the 58 consecutive patients who underwent radical resection for gastric cancer, 72.4% were male, with a mean age of 65.5 years, and a mean preoperative BMI of 21.2 (range: 15.4–29.1) kg/m². The degree of EWL was found to be closely correlated to compliance with adjuvant chemotherapy. Multivariate analysis by Cox proportional hazard analysis revealed that EWL was an independent factor for relapse-free survival (RFS), and patients with an EWL of 15.9% or more severe had poorer RFS. Conclusion: EWL above a certain rate at the start of adjuvant chemotherapy was a predictor of poor compliance with adjuvant chemotherapy and a high risk of disease recurrence in patients with pStage III gastric cancer.