Postoperative complications and the risk factors of radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer        ZHENG Chao-Hui, LU Jun，HUANG Chang-Ming, et al. Department of Gastric Surgery, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou 350001, China
Corresponding author: HUANG Chang-ming, E-mail: hcmlr2002@163.com
Abstract    Objective    To investigate the associated risk factors of postoperative complications in gastric cancer after radical gastrectomy. Methods    The clinical data of 1876 patients with gastric cancer performed radical gastrectomy from January 2007 to June 2012 were analyzed retrospectively. The risk factors determined postoperative complications were investigated by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results    The postoperative complications occurred in 291 (15.5%) of 1876 patients. According to univariate analysis, tumor size, preoperative comorbidity, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, operation time,surgeon’s experience and laparoscopic surgery were related to postoperative complications（P<0.05）. By logistic regression analysis，it was revealed that there were six significant factors for postoperative complications such as tumor size, preoperative comorbidity, lymph node metastasis, operation time,surgeon’s experience and laparoscopic surgery. The first flatus time and postoperative hospital stay in patients with postoperative complications were significantly longer than those in patients without postoperative complications （P<0.05）. The incidence of postoperative surgical complications of laparoscopic group and open group had no significant difference. However, postoperative non-surgical complication rate of laparoscopic group is lower significantly (P<0.05). Conclusion Tumor size, preoperative comorbidity, lymph node metastasis, operation time, surgeon’s experience and laparoscopic surgery were the main risk factors of postoperative complications in laparoscopy-assisted radical gastrectomy. Laparoscopic surgery can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative non-surgical complications