Aim

The aim of our study was to evaluate the prognostic role of nutritional status, selected clinical parameters and body composition assessed by bioelectrical impedance on clinical outcomes and major complication after pancreatic surgery in oncological patients.

Material and methods

This is a prospective study including 56 patients who underwent resection due to pancreatic or periampullary tumors. The nutritional status, body weight loss, selected laboratory and body composition parameters were evaluated. We assessed their predictive value in relation to postoperative complications and clinical outcomes.

Results

76.8% of the patients were malnourished, and 71.4% lost ≥5% of body weight before surgery. However, 44.6% of patients were overweight based on body mass index. Severe complications occurred in 28.6% patients. There were not any significant differences between the grade Clavien-Dindo≥3 group and grade 1-2 also no complication group in terms of bioimpedance and nutritional parameters. In multivariate analysis, the factors predictive of severe complications after pancreatic resection were hypoalbuminemia (p= .004) and absence of diabetes mellitus (p= .032).

Conclusions

Early-stage of pancreatic and periampullary tumors may not cause significant changes in body composition that can be detected by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The role of preoperative BIA’s parameters assessment as indicators of postoperative outcomes in this group seems to be limited.