Appropriate time to radical surgery for colorectal cancer patients complicated with newly onset cerebral infarction: a propensity score matching analysis

The purpose of our study was to compare the short-term outcomes of early (within 3 months after stroke) and nonearly (more than 3 months after stroke) radical colorectal cancer surgery to find an appropriate time to surgery for these colorectal cancer patients complicated with new-onset cerebral infarction. A retrospective analysis of patients with stroke who underwent curative colorectal cancer surgery between January 2010 and December 2020 was conducted. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed to overcome patient selection bias between the two groups. A total of 395 patients were reviewed. After PSM, 40 patients in the early group and 40 patients in the nonearly group were compared. The median time to surgery was 4 weeks in the early group. The overall incidence of postoperative complications between the groups was not significantly different (p = 0.745). The early group was associated with less intraoperative blood loss (50 vs. 100, p = 0.029 ml), with no difference in 30-day morbidity and mortality. Additionally, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that previous abdominal surgery (p = 0.049) was an independent risk factor for postoperative complications after matching. Before matching, multivariate logistic analysis showed that ESRS (p = 0.028) and MRS (p = 0.039) were independent risk factors. Radical surgery after 4 weeks of cerebral infarction may be feasible for colorectal cancer patients with new onset stroke, as it appear not to increase the perioperative complications of Clavien–Dindo grade II or higher, while strengthening the preoperative evaluation and perioperative monitoring.