A prospective multicenter observational study of surgical palliation examining postoperative quality of life in patients treated for malignant gastric outlet obstruction caused by incurable advanced gastric cancer.

6Background: Decision-making for surgical palliation remains one of the most challenging clinical scenarios since quality of life (QOL) is a key component of cancer care. We conducted this study to examine the impacts of surgical palliation on postoperative QOL in patients (pts) with malignant gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) caused by incurable primary gastric cancer (GC). Methods: Eligibility included (1) no oral intake or liquids only requiring parenteral nutrition (2) aged ≥20 (3) surgically fit (4) ECOG PS of 0-2 and (5) written IC. Patients underwent either palliative distal/total gastrectomy (DG/TG) or gastrojejunostomy (GJS). Treatment choice was left to the discretion of the physician. Validated QOL instruments (EORTC QLQ-STO22 and EuroQol-5D) assessed QOL at baseline, 2 weeks (wks), 1 month (m), and 3 months following the surgical palliation, and two observational outcomes (postoperative improvement of oral intake, and safety of surgical intervention) were evaluated. Results: 104 pts, 71 males a...