Abstract
BACKGROUND: To investigate the effect of postoperative supplementary parenteral nutrition (SPN) containing varying energy intake levels during the early postoperative period on the clinical outcomes of patients diagnosed with gastric cancer. METHODS: Data from 237 patients, who were diagnosed with gastric cancer between January 2016 and June 2022, were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on mean daily SPN energy intake: low (L-SPN; < 20 kcal/kg/day); and high (H-SPN; ≥ 20 kcal/kg/day). Data regarding gender, age, body mass index, preoperative Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) score, American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification system, age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index, diabetes, hypertension, chronic lung disease, and the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM [Eighth edition]) classification were collected for propensity score matching (PSM). Postoperative indicators were monitored. A power analysis was performed during the design phase of this study to ensure that statistical power exceeded 80% to reliably detect differences between the 2 groups. RESULTS: After PSM, data from 128 patients were analyzed (H-SPN, n = 64; L-SPN, n = 64). The H-SPN group experienced shorter postoperative hospital stay (8.11 ± 6.00 days vs. 10.38 ± 7.73 days; P = 0.045) and a lower number of infectious complications (36 [56.3%] vs. 60 [93.8%]; P < 0.001), particularly pulmonary infections, compared with the L-SPN group. Additionally, no increase in hospitalization costs or non-infectious complications occurred in the H-SPN group. Subgroup analysis revealed that H-SPN significantly reduced the incidence of infectious complications among those < 65 years of age (hazard ratio [HR] [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.240 0.069-0.829]; P = 0.024), NRS 2002 score ≥ 3 (HR 0.417 [95% CI 0.156-0.823]; P = 0.028), age-adjusted Charlson Complexity Index < 2 (HR 0.106 [95% CI 0.013-0.835]; P = 0.033), and TNM stage III (HR 0.504 [95% CI 0.224-0.921]; P = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: H-SPN effectively reduced postoperative infectious complications and the length of hospital stay, suggesting that early postoperative H-SPN may be an advantageous nutritional support strategy for patients diagnosed with gastric cancer.