Depressive Symptoms Linked to Worse Survival Following Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy With Cytoreductive Surgery

A recent study examined the correlation between survival outcomes (30-day and long-term overall) and preoperative symptoms of depression for patients undergoing hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy combined with cytoreductive surgery.¹

Researchers based at the University of Pittsburgh reviewed the medical records of 98 patients scheduled to receive hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy and cytoreductive surgery (HIPEC + CS). Recorded factors including demographic data, disease-related details, morbidity and readmission in the 30 days following surgery, and overall survival information.

Patients with clinically significant depression were found to display worse overall survival as well as a greater risk of 30-day morbidity and readmission. Of the 98 patients, 28 demonstrated clinical depression; after an adjustment for related preoperative demographic and disease-specific factors, depressive symptoms were linked to increase 30-day readmission and 30-day morbidity. After a similar adjustment for disease-specific and demographic factors, overall survival (median 11 months for those patients that died) was worse for patients displaying clinically significant depressive symptoms, though the introduction of intraoperative/postoperative prognostic variables to the model rendered this association no longer significant.

Data from this study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and were also presented in part at the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.

REFERENCE

1. Low CA, Bovbjerg DH, Ahrendt S, et al. Depressive symptoms in patients scheduled for hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy with cytoreductive surgery: prospective associations with morbidity and mortality [published online ahead of print February 22, 2016]. J Clin Oncol. doi:10.1200/JCO.2015.62.9683.