The impact of major postoperative complications on long-term outcomes following curative resection of colon cancer

The objective is to analyze the impact of severe postoperative complications in patients undergoing curative surgery for colon cancer. From a prospective database, we identified patients with stage I-III disease (AJCC) who underwent surgery between 2000 and 2014. Patients were selected with major complications (IIIb on the Clavien-Dindo classification) and with no major complications. Variables were analyzed in both groups. Local, peritoneal and distant recurrence together with overall survival and disease-free survival were analyzed. Of a total of 950 patients, 51 (5.3%) experienced major complications. Operative mortality was 2.6%. Age, ASA grade, urgent surgery, pre-operative hemoglobin, right-sided location, operative time, transfusion, conversion to open surgery, were all associated with major complications (all P