Published online Jun 27, 2023. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v15.i6.1093
Peer-review started: January 30, 2023
First decision: March 13, 2023
Revised: March 15, 2023
Accepted: April 12, 2023
Article in press: April 12, 2023
Published online: June 27, 2023
Processing time: 136 Days and 9.2 Hours
Preoperative evaluation of frailty is limited to a few surgical procedures. However, the evaluation in Chinese elderly gastric cancer (GC) patients remains blank.
To validate and estimate the prognostic value of the 11-index modified frailty index (mFI-11) for postoperative anastomotic fistula, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and long-term survival in elderly patients over 65 years of age undergoing radical GC.
To explore the feasibility of mFI-11 in predicting adverse outcomes after radical GC resection in elderly patients.
A retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients over 65 years of age who received curative gastrectomy with D2 Lymph node dissection for GC. The primary outcome was 1-year all-cause mortality. The secondary outcomes were admission to ICU, anastomotic fistula, and 6-mo mortality. Survival curves between the two groups were compared, and univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to explore the relationship between preoperative frailty and postoperative complications in elderly patients undergoing radical GC.
A total of 1003 patients were included, of which 13.86% (139/1003) were defined as having mFI-11High and 86.14% (864/1003) as having mFI-11Low. mFI-11High patients had higher rates of 1-year mortality, 6-mo mortality, anastomotic fistula, and admission to ICU than the mFI-11Low group. Multivariate analysis revealed mFI-11 as an independent predictive indicator for 1-year postoperative mortality, 6-mo mortality, anastomotic fistula, and admission to ICU. mFI-11 showed better prognostic efficacy in predicting 1-year postoperative mortality [area under the ROC curve (AUROC): 0.731], 6-mo mortality (AUROC: 0.759), anastomotic fistula (AUROC: 0.877), and admission to ICU (AUROC: 0.776).
Frailty as measured by mFI-11 could provide prognostic information for 1-year postoperative mortality, admission to ICU, anastomotic fistula, and 6-mo mortality in patients over 65 years old undergoing radical GC.
Well-designed multi-center prospective randomized controlled studies are still needed.