Effect of postoperative complications on 5-year survival following laparoscopic surgery for resectable colorectal cancer: a retrospective study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of postoperative complications on long-term survival after laparoscopic surgery for resectable colorectal cancer.

We retrospectively included 204 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer from January 2016 to June 2020.

Overall, 68 (33.3%) patients had postoperative complications, twelve (17.6%) of which were classified as Clavien–Dindo class 3a or higher. The 5-year overall survival rate of the non-complication and complication groups were 93.0% and 81.7%, respectively (p = 0.048; Kaplan–Meier analysis and log-rank test), and those among patients with stage III disease were 87.0% and 61.3%, respectively (p = 0.045). The 5-year disease-free survival rates were 85.6% and 77.4%, respectively (p = 0.042). Multivariable Cox proportional-hazards analysis revealed that nodal stage (hazard ratio, 8.392; 95% confidence interval, 1.892–37.175; p = 0.005) was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival, and postoperative complications (hazard ratio, 2.996; 95% confidence interval, 1.076–8.340; p = 0.036) were independent prognostic factors for disease-free survival.

Postoperative complications were associated with poor oncological outcomes, especially among patients with stage III colorectal cancer, and independent prognostic factors for disease-free survival.