Postoperative Complications in Cancer Surgery
Summary
Postoperative complications remain a major challenge in the surgical management of malignancy, affecting up to one third of patients depending on tumour site and procedure. Infectious events such as wound infections, pneumonia and intra-abdominal abscesses co-exist with non-infectious complications including haemorrhage, anastomotic leakage and thromboembolism. Severity ranges from minor deviations in recovery to life-threatening sequelae classified by established grading systems. Beyond immediate morbidity, these events carry profound implications for long-term survival, partly through delayed or cancelled adjuvant therapies and sustained systemic inflammation. Risk factors span patient characteristics (age, comorbidity, nutritional status), disease factors (tumour stage, location) and treatment variables (extent of resection, operative duration, perioperative care protocols). Contemporary efforts focus on optimising preoperative condition, intraoperative technique and postoperative monitoring within enhanced recovery frameworks. Progress in early warning systems and minimally invasive approaches has reduced certain complications, yet the interplay between host immunity, tumour biology and surgical stress demands ongoing research. Globally, minimising surgical morbidity is essential to improve cancer outcomes, preserve quality of life and contain healthcare costs.
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Postoperative Complications in Cancer Surgery publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in postoperative complications in cancer surgery across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Clavien–Dindo classification: A grading system to categorise surgical complications by severity, based on intervention required and impact on patient recovery.
C-reactive protein (CRP): An acute-phase protein measured in blood that indicates the presence and intensity of systemic inflammation.
Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR): A calculated marker derived from blood counts reflecting the balance between innate inflammatory response and adaptive immunity.
References
- Prediction of postoperative infectious complications in elderly patients with colorectal cancer: a study based on improved machine learning. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making (2024).
- Preoperative Chronic Inflammation Is a Risk Factor for Postoperative Complications Independent of Body Composition in Gastric Cancer Patients Undergoing Radical Gastrectomy. Cancers (2024).
- Postoperative complications and prognosis after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. World Journal of Surgical Oncology (2019).
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