Perioperative nutritional status changes in gastrointestinal cancer patients

PURPOSE: The presence of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and its treatment might aggravate patient nutritional status. Malnutrition is one of the major factors affecting the postoperative course. We evaluated changes in perioperative nutritional status and risk factors of postoperative severe malnutrition in the GI cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nutritional status was prospectively evaluated using patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) perioperatively between May and September 2011. RESULTS: A total of 435 patients were enrolled. Among them, 279 patients had been diagnosed with gastric cancer and 156 with colorectal cancer. Minimal invasive surgery was performed in 225 patients. PG-SGA score increased from 4.5 preoperatively to 10.6 postoperatively (p60, p<0.001), male sex (p=0.020), preoperative weight loss (p=0.008), gastric cancer (p<0.001), and open surgery (p