Nutritional Status After Total Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer is one of the most frequent causes of death secondary to cancer in the world. Surgery is the only potentially curative treatment but its clinical consequences are significant. The objective of this study is to evaluate the nutritional state of patients with a total gastrectomy secondary to gastric adenocarcinoma.

We designed a descriptive study with a transversal cut in our institution. We included 22 patients which had a minimum evolution time of six months after total gastrectomy secondary to gastric cancer surgery was performed. Neither of them had metastasis. The nutritional analysis included only biochemical data. Descriptive statistics were used for statistical analysis.

Eight females and 14 males were included in the study. Median age was 57 years (34 - 69 years). The 74% of the patients were underweight and none of them was overweight. The average body mass index (BMI) was 16.88 kg/m². Eleven patients suffered from mild anemia (10.5 - 12 g/dl) and 5 from moderate anemia (9 - 10.5 g/dl). Only two patients presented severe anemia (less than 9 g/dl). The 58% presented hypoproteinaemia and hypoalbuminaemia. The main post-surgery complication was nausea (46%). Seventy-eight percent of the patients had loss of appetite. Twenty-one patients were able to walk without help and leave their homes.

The incidence of anemia in these patients was very high. In most of the patients, albumin and proteins levels were affected too. So malnutrition was a relevant consequence of a total gastrectomy.