Abdominal aortic calcification predicts poor prognosis for patients with gastric cancer who underwent curative gastrectomy.

BACKGROUND

Abdominal aortic calcification is a pathological vascular disorder associated with various diseases and has recently been associated with the prognosis of various cancers. This study aimed to investigate the association between abdominal aortic calcification and prognosis in patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

METHODS

We analyzed 251 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer between January 2014 and February 2020. The volume of abdominal aortic calcification was assessed using routine preoperative computed tomography. The cutoff values were assessed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the survival status at the 3-year follow-up, and set to 585.

RESULTS

Higher abdominal aortic calcification volume was identified in 151 patients (60 %). Multivariate analysis showed that abdominal aortic calcification (P = 0.0120, P = 0.0430, respectively), and stage II or III disease (P = 0.0000, P=0.0000, respectively) were independent and significant predictors of the disease-free and cancer-specific survival. Additionally, patients with higher abdominal aortic calcification volume were significantly older and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, chronic renal failure, and cardiovascular diseases.

CONCLUSIONS

Abdominal aortic calcification showed a strong preoperative prognostic indicator in patients undergoing curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer.