Predictive Value of the Surgical Apgar Score on Postoperative Complications in Advanced Gastric Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Followed by Radical Gastrectomy: A Single Center Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: The surgical Apgar score (SAS) or modified SAS (mSAS) has been reported as a simple and easy risk assessment system to predict postoperative complications (PCs) in primary surgery for gastric cancer (GC). However, there are still few studies which revealed the SAS’s utility in gastric surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: One hundred and fifteen patients who received NAC and R0 gastrectomy from 2008 and 2015 were included in this study. The SAS was determined by estimated blood loss (EBL), lowest intraoperative mean arterial pressure (LMAP), and lowest heat rate (LHR). The mSAS was determined by the EBL reassessed using the interquartile values. The predictive values of the SAS/mSAS for PCs were assessed with uni and multivariate analyses. Results: Among 115 patients, 41 (35.7%) developed PCs. According to analyses with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the SAS and mSAS for predicting PCs, the cutoff value of the mSAS was set at 8. The rates of anastomotic leakage, pancreatic fistula, and arrhythmia in patients with high mSAS ( > 8) values were higher, compared to those with low (0-3) and moderate (4-7) mSAS values. A multiple logistic regression analysis detected operation time, Body Mass Index (BMI), and Diabetes Mellitus (DM) were independent risk factors for PCs. The mSAS was not a significant predictor. Conclusions: Neither the SAS nor mSAS was a useful predictor of PCs in patients treated with NAC followed by radical gastrectomy. The predictive value of SAS/mSAS is limited in patients undergoing surgery after NAC.