Elevated visceral fat area is associated with adverse postoperative outcome of radical colectomy for colon adenocarcinoma patients.

Objective: To assess the impact of visceral obesity quantified by preoperative computed tomography on short-term postoperative outcomes compared with body mass index (BMI) in stage I-III colon adenocarcinoma patients.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 107 patients treated with radical colectomy for stage I-III colon adenocarcinoma were classified as obese or non-obese by computed tomography-based measures or BMI (obese: BMI ≥28 kg/m , visceral fat area (VFA) to subcutaneous fat area ratio (V/S) ≥0.4, and VFA ≥100 cm ). Clinical variables, operation time, estimated blood loss, pathologic stage, histologic grade, postoperative complications, postoperative stay and hospitalization expenses were compared.

Results: Obese patients by VFA were more likely to have higher postoperative complication rate (32.9 versus 11.8%, P = 0.021), have longer operation time (184.6 ± 49.5 versus 163.1 ± 44.1 min, P = 0.033), postoperative stay (15.21 ± 7.59 versus 12.29 ± 5.40 days, P = 0.047) and cost more ($10 758.7 ± 3271.7 versus $9232.0 ± 2994.6, P = 0.023) than non-obese.

Conclusion: Visceral obesity graded by VFA is associated with increased postoperative morbidity, operation time, postoperative stay and hospitalization expenses for colon adenocarcinoma patients and may be superior to BMI or V/S for the prediction of colon surgery.