Background: To reduce the clinical and economic burden of complications after gastrectomy for gastric cancer, specific complications should be targeted to effectively allocate healthcare resources for quality improvement and preventive measures. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of complications on clinical outcomes. Methods: This was a retrospective multicentre study of patients who underwent (sub)total gastrectomy for gastric or junctional adenocarcinoma at 43 centres in 16 countries between 2017 and 2021. Outcomes were escalation of care, reoperation, prolonged hospital stay (greater than the 75th percentile), readmission, and 30-day mortality. Adjusted relative risks and population attributable fractions were estimated for specific complication–outcome pairs. The population attributable fraction represents the percentage reduction in the frequency of an adverse outcome if a complication could be completely prevented in the population. Results: In total, 7829 patients were included. Postoperative complications occurred in 1884 patients (24.1%). The most frequent complications were pulmonary complications (436 patients (5.6%)), anastomotic leakage (363 patients (4.6%)), and abdominal collection (301 patients (3.8%)). Anastomotic leakage, cardiac complications, and pulmonary complications had the greatest impact on 30-day mortality (population attributable fraction 26.6% (95% c.i. 14.5% to 38.6%), 18.7% (95% c.i. 9.4% to 28.0%), and 15.6% (95% c.i. 12.0% to 30.0%) respectively). Anastomotic leakage and pulmonary complications had the greatest impact on escalation of care (population attributable fraction 26.3% (95% c.i. 20.6% to 32.0%) and 18.4% (95% c.i. 11.7% to 25.2%) respectively), whereas anastomotic leakage and intra-abdominal bleeding had the greatest impact on reoperation (population attributable fraction 31.6% (95% c.i. 26.4% to 36.9%) and 8.5% (95% c.i. 5.5% to 11.5%) respectively). Most of the studied complications contributed to a prolonged hospital stay, whereas the contribution of complications to readmission did not exceed 15.9%. Subgroup analysis showed regional variation in the impact of complications. Conclusion: Anastomotic leakage had the largest overall negative impact on clinical outcomes after gastrectomy for gastric adenocarcinoma. Reducing the incidence of anastomotic leakage and pulmonary complications would have the most impact on the burden of complications.

Background Little is known about the association between signet ring cell (SRC) differentiation and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) in patients with...

Diagnostic laparoscopy (DL) with peritoneal lavage has been adopted as a standard staging procedure for patients with gastric cancer (GC). Evaluation of the value of DL is important given ongoing improvements in diagnostic imaging and treatment. As contemporary data from European centres are sparse, this retrospective cohort study aimed to assess the yield of DL in patients with potentially curable gastric cancer, and to identify predictive factors for peritoneal metastases. Patients with adenocarcinoma of the stomach, treated between January 2016 and December 2018, were identified from institutional databases of two high volume European Upper-GI centres. Patients who underwent a DL with peritoneal lavage for potentially curable disease after clinical staging with imaging (cT1-4N0-3M0) were included. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a positive DL, defined as macroscopic metastatic disease, positive peritoneal cytology washings (PC+) or locally irresectable disease. Some 80 of 327 included patients (24.5%) had a positive DL, excluding these patients from neoadjuvant treatment (66 of 327; 20.2%) and/or surgical resection (76 of 327; 23.2%). In 34 of 327 patients (10.3%), macroscopic metastatic disease was seen, with peritoneal deposits in 30 of these patients. Only 16 of 30 patients with peritoneal disease had positive cytology. Some 41 of 327 patients (12.5%) that underwent DL had PC+ in the absence of macroscopic metastases and five patients (1.5%) had an irresectable primary tumour. Diffuse type carcinoma had the highest risk of peritoneal dissemination, irrespective of cT and cN categories. The diagnostic yield of staging laparoscopy is high, changing the management in approximately one quarter of patients. DL should be considered in patients with diffuse type carcinoma irrespective of cT and cN categories.

Approximately 10–12% of patients with oesophageal or gastric cancer (OGC) present with oligometastatic disease at diagnosis. It remains unclear if there is a role for radical surgery in these patients. We aimed to assess the outcomes of OGC patients who underwent simultaneous treatment for the primary tumour and synchronous liver metastases. Patients with OGC who underwent surgical treatment between 2008 and 2020 for the primary tumour and up to five synchronous liver metastases aiming for complete tumour removal or ablation (i.e., no residual tumour) were identified from four institutional databases. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS), calculated with the Kaplan–Meier method. Secondary outcomes were disease-free survival and postoperative outcomes. Thirty-one patients were included, with complete follow-up data for 30 patients. Twenty-six patients (84%) received neoadjuvant therapy followed by response evaluation. Median OS was 21 months [IQR 9–36] with 2- and 5-year survival rates of 43% and 30%, respectively. While disease recurred in 80% of patients (20 of 25 patients) after radical resection, patients with a solitary liver metastasis had a median OS of 34 months. The number of liver metastases was a prognostic factor for OS (solitary metastasis aHR 0.330; p-value = 0.025). Thirty-day mortality was zero and complications occurred in 55% of patients. Long-term survival can be achieved in well-selected patients who undergo surgical resection of the primary tumour and local treatment of synchronous liver metastases. In particular, patients with a solitary liver metastasis seem to have a favourable prognosis.