BACKGROUND

The comprehensive complication index (CCI) reflects the overall patient complication burden on a 0-100 scale. This single-institution retrospective analysis explores the accuracy of CCI in describing complications following cytoreductive surgery for advanced high-grade ovarian carcinoma (HGOC) and aims to identify predictive factors of high complication burden.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In total, 304 patients who underwent cytoreductive surgery for FIGO stage IIIA-IVB HGOC at our institution from 2015 to 2023 were analyzed. Each complication's severity was graded using the Clavien-Dindo classification. The CCI was used to quantify the global complications burden, and patients were stratified into three groups: CCI-low (< 26.2), CCI-intermediate (26 ≤ CCI < 33.7), and CCI-high (≥ 33.7).

RESULTS

Of the 200 patients (65.8%) with at least one complication, 127 (41.8%) were CCI-low, 32 (10.5%) CCI-intermediate, and 41 (13.5%) CCI-high. Median hospitalization duration (p < 0.0001) and readmission rates (p < 0.0001) correlated with CCI categories, reflecting increased CCI scores with greater surgical complexity, as assessed by the Aletti surgical complexity score (SCS). Univariate analysis showed a significant association between CCI-high and FIGO stage, surgical complexity, diaphragmatic procedures, multiple bowel resections, length of surgery and intraoperative blood loss. Multivariate analysis confirmed FIGO stage (odds ratio [OR] 2.57), multiple bowel resections (OR 5.61), and blood loss (OR 1.93) as independent risk factors for high complication burden.

CONCLUSIONS

The CCI is a good descriptor of postoperative complications in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery for advanced HGOC by integrating both the severity and number of complications into a single, easily usable, and intuitive quantitative score. FIGO stage, multiple bowel resections, and blood loss-but not surgical timing-are independent predictors of a high complication burden.