Palliative Surgery for Advanced Cancer: Clinical Profile, Spectrum of Surgery and Outcomes from a Tertiary Care Cancer Centre in Low-Middle-Income Country

OBJECTIVES: Palliative surgery for cancer plays an important role in the overall management, especially in low-middle countries with a significant burden of advanced cancers. There is a paucity of literature related to the field of palliative surgery. In this study, we present the clinical spectrum, profile of surgical interventions and outcomes of palliative surgical procedures performed at a tertiary cancer centre involving multiple organ systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of prospectively maintained surgical oncology database of a tertiary care cancer centre was performed. Patients fulfilling the criteria of palliative surgery were analysed for clinical spectrum, indications for surgery, palliative surgical procedures and post-operative outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 678 out of 8300 patients fulfilled the criteria for palliative surgery. Palliative surgical procedures were performed most commonly for gastro-oesophageal malignancies (36.4%) followed by colorectal cancers (24%) and breast cancer (12%). Palliative mastectomy was the most common procedure performed for advanced breast cancer and 7% of sarcoma patients had amputations. Symptom relief could be achieved in 80–90% of patients and post-operative morbidity was relatively high among hepatobiliary, gastrointestinal and gynaecological cancer patients. CONCLUSION: Globally, a significant number of cancer patients need palliative surgical intervention, especially in LMIC with a high burden of advanced cancers. Results of the current study indicate that gastrointestinal cancer patients constitute a major proportion of patients undergoing palliative surgery. Overall results of the current study indicate that excellent palliation can be achieved in majority of patients with acceptable morbidity and hospital stay.