Usefulness of Six Minute Walking Distance as a Predictor of Complications after Gastric Cancer Laparotomy

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the factors significantly associated with postoperative complications after laparotomy for gastric cancer.

Methods: The study included 24 patients who underwent perioperative rehabilitation before surgery. Patients were categorized into the postoperative complication and the non-postoperative complication groups, and intergroup comparison was performed for statistical analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors significantly associated with postoperative complications. The cutoff value was calculated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

Result: The preoperative 6-min walk distance was significantly lower in the postoperative complication group (257.7 m vs. 353.1 m, p<0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that the selected factor was only the preoperative 6-min walk distance, and the cutoff value based on the ROC curve was 300 m.

Conclusion: We observed that the preoperative 6-min walk distance was significantly associated with postoperative complications after laparotomy performed for gastric cancer. Therefore, the preoperative 6-min walk distance might effectively predict complications after laparotomy for gastric cancer. Active prehabilitation and improvement of preoperative exercise tolerance are important in patients showing a 6-min walk distance <300 m.