The Effects of Body Mass Index on Lymph Node Dissection and Complications in Total Gastrectomy

Abstract

Objective; The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of body mass index (BMI) on postoperative complications and on the total number of excised and metastatic lymph nodes in cases with total gastrectomy + D2 lymph node dissections because of gastric cancer.

Methods: The patients were divided into three groups according to their BMI: those with BMI of 24.9 (kg/m2) and less were normal (Group 1), those with BMI between 25 and 30 (kg/m2) were overweight (Group 2), and those with BMI greater than 30 (kg/m2) were obese (Group 3).

Results: There were 27 patients in Group I, 28 in Group 2 and 25 in Group 3. When the groups were examined, only Group 3 had a higher rate of comorbidity. Otherwise, the clinical characteristics and the rates of intraoperative and postoperative complications were similar among the groups. The pathological analyses conducted among the groups revealed that BMI had no effect on the number of excised lymph nodes, the number of metastatic lymph nodes, and the ratio of metastatic lymph nodes to excised lymph nodes.

Conclusion: We believe that BMI does not affect pathological outcomes in gastric cancer surgery and does not increase surgical complications.