PD028 - SURGERY-INDUCED CHANGES IN HANDGRIP STRENGTH AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING GASTRECTOMY FOR GASTRIC CANCER

PD028

SURGERY-INDUCED CHANGES IN HANDGRIP STRENGTH AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING GASTRECTOMY FOR GASTRIC CANCER

D. Huang¹, G. Wu², Z. Li¹, X. Shen², W. Sun^2,*

¹NHC Key Laboratory of Clinical Nutrition and Intervention, ²The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China

Rationale: The present study aimed to illustrate the consecutive changes of handgrip strength (HGS) within one week after gastrectomy for gastric cancer, to explore the risk factors associated with the delayed recovery of HGS after surgery, and to investigate the association between postoperative HGS changes and the clinical outcomes. 

Methods: A prospective study was performed in patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer. HGS was measured before and 1, 3, 5, 7 days after surgery. 

Results: A total of 792 patients were included in the present study. HGS decreased to a median of 0.70 relative to the preoperative levels at postoperative day (POD) 1, restored to 0.80 at POD 3, and reached a plateau at POD 5 (0.89) and POD 7 (0.91). Age ≥75 years, total gastrectomy, and TNM stage III were independent risk factors for delayed HGS recovery at POD 7. Low postoperative HGS and low postoperative/preoperative HGS ratio at all time points after surgery were independently associated with postoperative complications in the final adjusted logistic regression models, whereas preoperative HGS did not. Both low HGS and low postoperative/preoperative HGS ratio at POD 5 and 7 were independently associated with worse survival in the final adjusted Cox regression models, whereas HGS parameters at the other time points did not.

Conclusion: HGS drastically declined and rapidly recovered to a plateau within one week after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Postoperative HGS showed superior prognostic value over preoperative HGS for predicting postoperative complications and survival.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared