Predictive Factors of Postoperative Delirium in Patients After Pancreaticoduodenectomy

Postoperative delirium is a common serious complication after various types of surgery. However, the incidence and predictive factors associated with delirium after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) have not been investigated. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the incidence and predictive factors of postoperative delirium in patients who underwent PD.

This study included 155 consecutive patients who underwent PD. Patients with and without postoperative delirium were compared to identify differential patient characteristics. Multivariate regression analysis was used to statistically identify independent predictive factors significantly associated with the development of postoperative delirium.

Postoperative delirium developed in 27 (22.4%) of 155 patients. The majority of incidents occurred on postoperative day 2, and the mean delirium duration was 4.6 ± 4.8 days. Patients with postoperative delirium had an older age and a previous history of benzodiazepine use. A multivariate analysis revealed that the development of delirium was significantly correlated with these two factors. Receiver-operator characteristics (ROC) curve analysis of the two factors yielded an area under the ROC curve of 0.823 (0.750-0.896), suggesting good discrimination power.

This study reports on the incidence of postoperative delirium after PD. Furthermore, we identified age and use of benzodiazepines as significant predictive factors for developing delirium after PD. These results contribute to the prediction and treatment of postoperative delirium.