The impact of preoperative dexamethasone on long-term survival following surgery for colorectal cancer.

Abstract

644 Background: Steroids given at the induction of anaesthesia are associated with a reduction in the magnitude of the postoperative systemic inflammatory response and fewer complications following elective surgery for colorectal cancer (McSorley et al. Ann Surg Oncol 2017;24(8):2104-2112). The present study examined their impact on survival. Methods: Patients who underwent elective surgery, with curative intent, for stage I-III colorectal cancer at a single centre between 2008 and 2016 were included. Data on preoperative dexamethasone was obtained from anaesthetic records, and its impact on cancer specific (CSS) and overall survival (OS) assessed using Cox regression in an unmatched (n=556) and a propensity score matched cohort (n=276) (Table 1). Results: After excluding postoperative mortalities (n=3), there were 98 deaths (18%), with 57 (10%) due to cancer. Of those alive at censoring, the median follow up was 47 months (range 16-110). In the unmatched cohort, there was no significant association between dexamethasone and CSS (HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.52-1.53, p=0.688) or OS (HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.63-1.43, p=0.804). In the propensity score matched cohort, there was no significant association between dexamethasone and CSS (HR 1.18, 95% CI 0.55-2.53, p=0.668) or OS (HR 1.21, 95% CI 0.67-2.17), p=0.532). Conclusions: These results suggest that whilst preoperative steroids are associated with improved short term outcomes following surgery for colorectal cancer, they have no negative effect on long term outcomes. [Table: see text]