A comparative study on the efficacy of fast-track surgery in the treatment of esophageal cancer patients combined with metabolic syndrome

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of fast-track surgery (FTS) in the treatment of esophageal cancer patients combined with metabolic syndrome. Ninety-four esophageal cancer patients with metabolic syndrome were selected in Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University from March, 2016 to February, 2017. Patients were randomly divided into control group and observation group with 47 cases in each group. Patients in observation group were treated with FTS, while patients in control group were treated with traditional method. Intraoperative blood loss, the number of dissected lymph nodes, operation time, postoperative hospital stay, the cost of hospitalization, postoperative readmission rate, and incidence of postoperative complications were compared between the groups. Levels of serum inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and hs-CRP), fat cell factor chemerin and leptin (LP) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at 1 month after surgery. Levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) at 1 month after surgery were compared between groups. Levels of hemoglobin (Hb), albumin (Alb), prealbumin (PAB) and transferrin (TRF) at 1 month after surgery were also compared between the two groups. Treatment of cancer quality-of-life questionnaire-esophageal cancer (OES-18) module was used to evaluate the symptoms of patients at one month after surgery. It turned out that no significant differences in intraoperative blood loss, operation time and the number of dissected lymph nodes were found between groups (p>0.05). Postoperative hospital stay, the cost of hospitalization, postoperative readmission rate and the incidence of postoperative complications were significantly lower in observation group than in control group (p<0.05). Levels of TNF-α, hs-CRP, chemerin and LP in observation group were significantly lower than those in control group at one month after surgery (p<0.05). Levels of TC, TG and LDL-C were significantly lower and HDL-C level was significantly higher in observation group than in control group at one month after surgery (p<0.05). Levels of Hb and Alb were significantly lower and levels of PAB and TRF were significantly higher in observation group than in control group at one month after surgery (p<0.05). OES-18 score of observation group was significantly better than that of control group at one month after surgery (p<0.05). As a conclusion, FTS can promote postoperative rehabilitation, shorten hospital stay, reduce economic burden and reduce the rehospitalization rate of esophageal cancer patients. At the same time, FTS can also improve the lipid metabolism, nutritional status and regulate the differentiation of adipocytes, alleviate the low inflammatory response state, which in turn promotes metabolic syndrome.