Postoperative pneumonia causes the loss of skeletal muscle volume and poor prognosis in patients undergoing esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.

Purposes: This retrospective study investigated the effect of postoperative pneumonia on the loss of skeletal muscle volume after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer.

Methods: A total of 123 patients who had undergone esophagectomy for esophageal cancer and had (30 patients) or did not have (93 patients) postoperative pneumonia were included in the analysis. The association of clinicopathological characteristics with loss of skeletal muscle volume and long-term survival were evaluated in patients with or without postoperative pneumonia.

Results: There were no differences in the psoas muscle volume index (PI), lymphocyte count, serum albumin level, or prognostic nutritional index between the two groups both preoperatively and at 6 months after surgery. The decrease in PI at 6 months after surgery was significant in patients with postoperative pneumonia (- 9.9 ± 2.5%) but not in those without pneumonia (- 2.6 ± 1.6%). Patients with postoperative pneumonia had a significantly increased frequency of asymptomatic pneumonia at 6 months after surgery compared with those who did not have postoperative pneumonia (36.7% vs. 19.4%). Overall survival was significantly poorer in patients with postoperative pneumonia than in those without pneumonia (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Postoperative pneumonia was associated with the loss of skeletal muscle volume and asymptomatic pneumonia within 6 months of surgery as well as poorer overall survival.