Impact of postoperative infectious complications on long-term prognosis after esophagectomy.

Abstract

Background: Postoperative complications have been reported to be a risk factor for worse oncologic outcomes in patients with esophageal cancer. However, the impact of postoperative complications on prognosis after esophagectomy remains controversial. We aimed to investigate the factors that influence the prognosis of postoperative complications in patients who underwent oncological esophagectomy, focusing on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: In total, 254 consecutive patients who underwent esophagectomy for esophageal cancer between 2009 and 2021 were eligible. We examined the association between postoperative complications and long-term outcomes.

Results: Focusing on infectious complications (IC: a combination of postoperative pneumonia and anastomotic leakage), overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) rates were significantly worse in patients with IC than those without (p < 0.01, and <0.01, respectively), whereas the presence of other complications demonstrated no survival impact. No clinicopathological variables have changed the influence of IC on long-term outcomes. Meanwhile, patients with postoperative pneumonia exhibited significantly lower OS and RFS rates compared to those without in non-COPD group, however, the presence of postoperative pneumonia demonstrated no prognostic impact in COPD group. Also, interaction analysis revealed that the effect of postoperative pneumonia on poor RFS differed based on the presence of COPD (p for interaction = 0.09).

Conclusions: IC influenced the long-term outcomes in patients with esophageal cancer, however no clinicopathological variables have changed the effect of the presence of IC on prognosis. Meanwhile, the effect of postoperative pneumonia on poor survival differed based on the presence of COPD.