Operative Time as a Universal Risk Factor for Infectious Complications after Colorectal Cancer Surgery: A Multicenter...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Surgical Oncology
• Infectious Disease

Background:

• Postoperative infectious complications are a major concern in colorectal cancer surgery, leading to extended hospital stays and increased recurrence rates.
• Risk factors for these complications can differ based on the specific surgical site (right-sided colon, left-sided colon, or rectal cancer).

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify common and procedure-specific risk factors for postoperative infectious complications in patients undergoing elective colorectal cancer surgery.
• To analyze variations in risk factors across different anatomical locations of colorectal cancer surgery.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective multicenter study involving 2,636 patients who underwent elective colorectal cancer surgery.
• Analysis of Clavien-Dindo grade ≥2 infectious complications incidence stratified by surgical site.
• Multivariate logistic regression to determine common and procedure-specific risk factors.

Main Results:

• Overall infectious complication rate was 18.5%, with significant differences by surgical site (11.7% right-sided colon, 14.6% left-sided colon, 22.0% rectal cancer).
• Operative time was the sole common risk factor across all procedures.
• Procedure-specific factors included advanced age, low BMI, male sex, and open surgery for right-sided colon cancer; younger age and male sex for rectal cancer.

Conclusions:

• Prolonged operative time is a consistent, independent risk factor for infectious complications in colorectal cancer surgery.
• Patient and surgical factors like age, BMI, sex, and approach have variable associations depending on the specific colorectal cancer surgical site.