Prediction of Postoperative Major Complications in Pancreaticoduodenectomy -a Prospective Comparative Analysis of Braga and WHipple-ABACUS Scores

Background Major complications following pancreaticoduodenectomy have a severely deleterious effect on postoperative course, rather than just occurrence of pancreatic fistula. Surgical risk stratification with Braga and WHipple-ABACUS have been proposed and validated. Objective The study aimed at comparing the Braga and WHipple-ABACUS scores for prediction of major complications following pancreaticoduodenectomies. Method This was a prospective observational study at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital from February 2018 to April 2019. After ethical approval, all consecutive 41 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomies were included. Each patient was graded in Braga and WHipple-ABACUS scores. Perioperative events occurring over 30 days were graded as per Clavien -Dindo complications for pancreatic surgery. The predictive value of the scores were assessed using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The categorical data were compared using the Pearson χ2 test or Fisher's exact test. Result Over period of 14 months, total of 41 patients (M:F=2.15:1) with median age of 58 years (range, 21-86) underwent pancreatoduodenectomy. The mean scores were Braga (4.6±3.1) and WHipple-ABACUS (1.8±1.6). Major complications over 30 days were developed in 11 patients with five mortality. There were significant differences in mean values of Braga score (7.0±3.4 vs 3.7±2.6, p-value=0.02) and WHippleABACUS score (3.2±1.8 vs 1.3±1.3, p-value=0.01) in patients with major complications to those without respectively. The area under curves for Braga and WHipple-ABACUS scores were 0.800 and 0.779 respectively. Conclusion Both WHipple-ABACUS and Braga scores are easy to calculate and predict the development of major complications significantly in patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy.