Elevated visceral fat area is associated with adverse postoperative outcome of radical colectomy for colon adenocarcinoma patients.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the impact of visceral obesity quantified by preoperative computed tomography on short-term postoperative outcomes compared with body mass index (BMI) in stage I-III colon adenocarcinoma patients.

METHODS

In this retrospective study, 107 patients treated with radical colectomy for stage I-III colon adenocarcinoma were classified as obese or non-obese by computed tomography-based measures or BMI (obese: BMI ≥28 kg/m , visceral fat area (VFA) to subcutaneous fat area ratio (V/S) ≥0.4, and VFA ≥100 cm ). Clinical variables, operation time, estimated blood loss, pathologic stage, histologic grade, postoperative complications, postoperative stay and hospitalization expenses were compared.

RESULTS

Obese patients by VFA were more likely to have higher postoperative complication rate (32.9 versus 11.8%, P = 0.021), have longer operation time (184.6 ± 49.5 versus 163.1 ± 44.1 min, P = 0.033), postoperative stay (15.21 ± 7.59 versus 12.29 ± 5.40 days, P = 0.047) and cost more ($10 758.7 ± 3271.7 versus $9232.0 ± 2994.6, P = 0.023) than non-obese.

CONCLUSION

Visceral obesity graded by VFA is associated with increased postoperative morbidity, operation time, postoperative stay and hospitalization expenses for colon adenocarcinoma patients and may be superior to BMI or V/S for the prediction of colon surgery.