Avoiding perioperative dexamethasone may improve the outcome of patients with rectal cancer

作者:Yu, H C; Luo, Y X; Peng, H; Kang, L; Huang, M J; Wang, J P*
来源:European Journal of Surgical Oncology, 2015, 41(5): 667-673.
DOI:10.1016/j.ejso.2015.01.034

摘要

Background: Perioperative administration of dexamethasone may augment recurrence and mortality after tumor resection possibly by immunosuppression, which, unfortunately, has never been noted. We therefore carried out a retrospective study in rectal cancer to validate the hypothesis. Methods: Five hundreds and fifteen patients with stage I to III rectal cancers who underwent a curative resection from June 2007 and June 2011 were enrolled in the current study. Patients who had been given intravenous (IV) dexamethasone (4-10 mg) postoperatively and/or intraoperatively were assigned to dexamethasone group. The outcome of dexamethasone group and non-dexamethasone group were compared. The primary outcome was disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: dexamethasone group had significant lower three-year DFS (62.3% vs 71.8%, P = 0.026) and OS (74.1% vs 82.9%, P = 0.031) rate in comparison to non-dexamethasone group, the hazard ratios (HRs) of which were 1.59 (95% CI 1.05-2.39, P = 0.028) and 1.77 (95% CI 1.05-3.01, P = 0.034), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that administration of systemic dexamethasone were independently associated with DFS [adjusted HR 1.60 (95% CI 1.03-2.49, p = 0.039)1, but for OS, dexamethaione didn't remain significant in this model. In the analyses of a subgroup of 428 patients (55/428 in dexamethasone group) without perioperative blood transfusion, dexamethasone had independently impact on both DFS and OS. Conclusion: Patients not given dexamethasone had better three-year survival outcomes compared with patients given dexamethasone peri-operatively. Our results indicate that rectal cancer patients treated with curative surgery may get survival benefit from avoiding low-dose perioperative dexamethasone. 2015 Elsevier Ltd.