Novel management indications for conservative treatment of chylous ascites after gastric cancer surgery

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of gastric cancer patients with postoperative chylous ascites

Characteristics	Cases
Age, yr	61.0 ± 11.3
Gender, n (%)
Male	41 (77.4)
Female	12 (22.6)
Tumor location, n (%)
Upper	18 (40.0)
Middle	11 (20.6)
Bottom	24 (45.3)
AJCC 8th stage, n (%)
I	21 (39.6)
II	11 (20.8)
III	18 (34.0)
IV	3 (5.7)
Type of surgery, n (%)
Radical	51 (96.2)
Non-radical	2 (3.8)
LN dissection, n (%)
D1	8 (15.1)
D2	43 (81.1)
D3	2 (3.8)
Discharged without DT, n (%)
Yes	40 (75.5)
No	13 (24.5)
Postoperative time of oral feeding (d)	3.8 ± 1.0
Postoperative time of CA appearance (d)	7.5 ± 2.4
DT removal duration (d)	14.3 ± 12.6
Postoperative hospitalization duration (d)	21.9 ± 11.1

SD: Standard deviation; AJCC: American Joint Committee on Cancer; LN: Lymph node; DT: Drainage tube; CA: Chylous ascites.

Table 2 Clinical characteristics differences between the normal and delayed drainage tube removal groups

Subgroup	No. of patients
	Normal (n = 20)	Delayed DT removal (n = 33)
Clamp DT
Yes	7	0
No	13	0
Preoperative HGB, g/L
≤ 130	12	15
> 130	8	18
Preoperative ALB, g/L
≤ 41	9	17
> 41	11	16
Maximum drainage, mL
≤ 540	13	13
> 540	7	20
Postoperative intake1, d
≤ 3	10	17
> 3	10	16
CA onset time, d
≤ 7	15	16
> 7	5	17
Antibiotic usage, d
≤ 5	12	16
> 5	8	17
Postoperative infection
Yes	8	12
No	12	21
AJCC stage
Early	8	13
Advanced	12	20
LN dissection
D1	6	2
D2+	14	31
Age, yr
≤ 60	8	15
> 60	12	18
Gender
Male	15	26
Female	5	7

¹Time of oral feeding after gastric surgery.

HGB: Hemoglobin; ALB: Albumin; AJCC: American Joint Committee on Cancer; LN: Lymph node; DT: Drainage tube; CA: Chylous ascites.

Table 3 Postoperative infection-related complications significantly affect gastric cancer patients with postoperative chylous ascites to remove abdominal drainage tubes in time

	Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis
	HR (95%CI)	P value	HR (95%CI)	P value
DT clamping	0.39 (0.11-1.72)	0.281	-	-
Postoperative HGB	1.49 (0.72-3.08)	0.283	-	-
Postoperative ALB	1.82 (0.88-3.76)	0.303	1.09 (0.98-1.21)	0.127
Maximum drainage	0.98 (0.47-2.05)	0.367	-	-
Postoperative intake time	2.22 (1.10-4.48)	0.031	1.86 (0.94-4.21)	0.234
CA onset time	0.81 (0.40-1.62)	0.486	-	-
Duration of antibiotic usage	0.45 (0.22-0.91)	0.009	0.86 (0.76-0.96)	0.009
Postoperative infection	2.20 (1.21-4.61)	0.003	2.40 (1.63-4.14)	0.007
AJCC Stage	0.95 (0.75-1.21)	0.676	-	-
LN dissection	0.87 (0.53-1.42)	0.595	-	-
Age	1.34 (0.66-2.70)	0.471	-	-
Gender	2.02 (0.85-4.78)	0.141	3.13 (0.85-11.1)	0.187

HR: Hazard ratio; CI: Confidence interval; HGB: Hemoglobin; ALB: Albumin; AJCC: American Joint Committee on Cancer; LN: Lymph node; DT: Drainage tube; CA: Chylous ascites.