Reasons for Surgical Attrition Among Nonmetastatic Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients: A Single Institutional Experience

• Published in: Journal of surgical oncology 2024-09
• Main Authors: Kakish, Hanna, Drigotas, Claire, Loftus, Alexander W, Boutros, Christina S, Doh, Susan J, Ammori, John B, Rothermel, Luke D, Hoehn, Richard S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-4790; 1096-9098; 1096-9098
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.27865

Upper gastrointestinal (UGI) cancers require multidisciplinary treatment, but surgery provides the only potentially curative option. We sought to understand reasons for attrition before surgery within our regional hospital network. We performed chart reviews of patients (age 18-80) with stage I-III UGI cancers (gastroesophageal junction, gastric, and hepatopancreatobiliary adenocarcinomas) in our multihospital cancer registry from 2015 to 2021. Our primary outcome was reasons for surgical attrition. Univariable analysis identified factors related to surgical attrition and the Kaplan-Meier method estimated overall survival based on surgery receipt. Seven hundred and ninety-two patients were included in our analysis, of whom 107 (13.5%) did not undergo curative surgery. Reasons for not undergoing surgery included medical comorbidities (30.8%), patient preference/nonmedical barriers (24.3%, which included: not interested without further explanation, worried about complications, nonadherence to appointments, insurance issues, did not wish for blood transfusion, lack of social support, preferring home care, and worried about recurrence), psychosocial (5.6%), progression while on neoadjuvant therapy or waiting for transplant (15.0% and 7.5%), poor performance status (3.7%), side effects of neoadjuvant therapy (3.7%), and death unrelated to treatment or unknown cause (9.4%). Nonsurgical management was not associated with race, socioeconomic status, or distance traveled for care. Survival was greatly improved for patients who underwent surgery (158 vs. 63 weeks, p