Effectiveness of aerosol therapy on prevention and treatment of postoperative pulmonary complications of gastric cancer: a cross-sectional study based on a patients’ registry

Purpose: Postoperative aerosol therapy is a common clinical intervention after general anesthesia that is aimed at preventing postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs). However, few studies have evaluated its effectiveness. We evaluated the effectiveness of aerosol therapy on the prevention and treatment of PPCs in gastric cancer patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study (consecutive case series) was based on the surgical gastric cancer patient registry at West China Hospital. The included cases were retrospectively evaluated. Between January 2016 and December 2018, 1087 patients with pathologically confirmed gastric adenocarcinoma, and who had been subjected to radical surgery were enrolled in this study. These patients were assigned into two groups, the prophylactic aerosol group and the non-prophylactic aerosol group. Risk factors and intervention measures for PPCs were compared. Among the 1087 patients, a total of 235 patients with PPCs and who had not received prophylactic aerosol therapy were enrolled in the therapeutic aerosol therapy subgroup. We determined whether therapeutic aerosol therapy could improve perioperative outcomes for gastric cancer patients with PPCs. Results: There were no differences in PPCs incidences between gastric cancer patients administered with prophylactic aerosol (37.5%) and those without prophylactic aerosol administration (39.4%) (p = 0.510). Univariate analysis revealed that prophylactic aerosol therapy was not a protective against PPCs after gastric cancer surgery (p = 0.510). Multivariate analysis showed that there was no correlation between prophylactic aerosol therapy and PPCs (p = 0.894). Conclusions: Postoperative aerosol therapy was not effective in the prevention or control of PPCs in gastric cancer patients.