Impact of abdominal aortic calcification on long-term outcome after gastric cancer surgery: A retrospective study

Purpose This study examined the impact of abdominal aortic calcification, a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, on the prognosis of patients undergoing radical surgery for gastric cancer. Methods The effects of abdominal aortic calcification on clinical outcomes, prognosis, and recurrence patterns were analyzed in 516 patients who underwent radical surgery for gastric cancer between 2010 and 2017. Results After propensity score matching, patients with higher abdominal aortic calcification had significantly poorer overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and disease-free survival than those with lower calcification levels. Multivariate Cox regression analysis identified a higher degree of abdominal aortic calcification, as an independent risk factor for poor overall survival (hazard ratio, 2.34; 95% confidence interval, 1.43–3.83; p<0.001), recurrence-free survival (hazard ratio, 2.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.47–3.90; p<0.001) and disease-free survival (hazard ratio, 3.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.70–8.88; p=0.001). High abdominal aortic calcification was also a risk factor for peritoneal dissemination recurrence in gastric cancer. Conclusion A high degree of abdominal aortic calcification was linked to poor prognosis and increased peritoneal dissemination recurrence following curative resection for gastric cancer. Thus, abdominal aortic calcification may serve as a novel clinical tool for predicting the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.