Relationship Between Postoperative Complications and the Prognosis of Gastric Carcinoma Patients Who Underwent Surgical Resection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Whether the presence of postoperative complications was associated with poor prognosis of gastric carcinoma (GC) patients remain controversial. This meta-analysis was designed and reported to compare the survival difference between patients with complications and non-complications. METHODS: Cochrane Library, PubMed and Embase databases were comprehensively searched for published literatures to review current evidence on this topic. The survival data were extracted, and a random-effect or fixed-effect model was used to analyze the correlation between postoperative complications and oncologic outcome of GC patients. RESULTS: = 0.002) impaired the OS of gastric carcinoma patients. CONCLUSION: Postoperative complications were significantly correlated to recurrence and poor survival in gastric carcinoma patients. To gain a better surgical outcome and long-term oncological outcome, postoperative complications should be minimized as much as possible.