BACKGROUND

Esophagectomy for esophageal cancer is one of the most invasive surgeries. However, the factors influencing postoperative systemic inflammatory response following esophagectomy have not been elucidated. Recently, visceral fat has been shown to play an important role in both chronic and acute inflammation. In this study, we assessed the relationship between visceral obesity and postoperative inflammatory response following minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE).

METHODS

Visceral fat area (VFA) was measured using computed tomography in 152 patients undergoing MIE for esophageal cancer. We assessed perioperative serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels preoperatively and on postoperative days (PODs) 1-5 and analyzed the relationship between VFA and perioperative serum CRP levels.

RESULTS

VFA was positively associated with preoperative serum CRP level (P < 0.001). Univariate analysis revealed that VFA was significantly associated with increased serum CRP levels on PODs 1-5 (P < 0.001 for each day), whereas multivariate analysis revealed that it was independently associated with increased serum CRP levels on PODs 1-4 (P = 0.033, 0.035, 0.001, and 0.006, respectively). Similar results were observed in patients who did not have postoperative infectious complications, such as pneumonia, anastomotic leak, and surgical site infection. VFA was not an independent risk factor for the occurrence of these postoperative infectious complications.

CONCLUSIONS

Visceral obesity might be associated with chronic inflammation in patients with esophageal cancer and promote postoperative inflammatory response following MIE.