Mild Prognostic Impact of Postoperative Complications on Long-term Survival of Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the impact of complications on long-term survival in patients with perihilar cholangiocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND

Surgical resection for perihilar cholangiocarcinoma is vulnerable to postoperative complications. The prognostic impact of complications in patients with this disease is unknown.

METHODS

The medical records of patients who underwent curative-intent hepatectomy for perihilar cholangiocarcinoma between 2010 and 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. The comprehensive complication index (CCI) was calculated based on all postoperative complications, which were graded by the Clavien-Dindo classification (CDC). Patients were divided into high and low CCI groups by the median score, and survival was compared between the 2 groups.

RESULTS

Excluding 8 patients who died in hospital, 369 patients were analyzed. The CDC grade was I in 20 (5.4%), II in 108 (29.3%), III in 224 (60.7%), and IV in 17 (4.6%) patients. The CCI increased with increasing CDC grade; the median was 42.9 (range, 15.0-98.9). Overall survival differed significantly between the high (n = 187) and low (n = 182) CCI groups (41.2% vs 47.9% at 5 years; P = 0.041). However, multivariable analyses demonstrated that traditional clinicopathological factors were independent predictors of survival and that the dichotomized CCI was not. In addition, the CCI score as a continuous variable was not an independent prognostic factor for overall survival in the multivariable analyses (hazard ratio per 1 CCI score: 1.00, 95% confidence interval: 0.99-1.01, P = 0.775).

CONCLUSIONS

Cumulative postoperative complications after resection of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma only moderately deteriorate long-term survival, and should not be an argument to deny surgery in this high-risk population.