Clinicopathologic features of obese patients with rectal cancer and short-term results of surgery

Aim: Some authors related the increased body mass index (BMI) with postoperative complication rates also increase, number of harvested lymph nodes reduce and sparing the anal sphincter is much more challenging in the surgical management of rectal cancer. In this study, we evaluated clinic-pathologic features and short-term surgical results in obese and non-obese patients with rectal cancer. Material and Methods: 54 obese and 326 non-obese patients are evaluated for clinic-pathological features, postoperative complications, re-operation rates and mortality rates. Results: The rate of distally located rectal tumor is found significantly higher in obese patients than non-obese patients (p<0.05). Although anterior resection has been performed more commonly in Group-I, abdominoperineal resection procedure is found significantly higher in Group-II, (p<0.05)..Harvested lymph nodes ratio between two groups was quite close to each other so this difference is not statistically significant. .Postoperative results were similar between the groups except total postoperative complications and re-operations for anastomotic leak. Although re-operation rates for anastomotic leak are found different, they are quite close between the two groups and this difference is not statistically significant. In contrast to some of the previously published articles, there was not any significant difference in morbidity and mortality between the two groups in our study. Conclusion: In our opinion there is not a clear conclusion to change the operative strategy for enough number of harvested lymph nodes but meticulous technique should be utilized to reduce the rate of anastomotic leak and resultant re-operations in this group of patients.