Purpose : Post-gastrectomy anemia is a common long-term complication after gastric surgery. However, the
relationship of preoperative, perioperative and postoperative hematological changes has not been well studied.
We analyzed factors that cause post-gastrectomy anemia including hematological changes.
Materials and Methods : A total of 227 patients who underwent a gastrectomy were analyzed. Hematological and
iron profiles were measured preoperatively, post-operative day (POD) 4, POD7, and during outpatient follow-up.
Risk factors for the occurrence of anemia were evaluated and identified using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression
analysis.
Results : During the preoperative phase, 99 patients were anemic and 24 of the patients had iron deficiency. No
folate or cobalamin deficiency was noted. No significant differences were observed during the immediate
postoperative recovery phase. During the long-term outpatient follow-up phase, we monitored occurrence of postgastrectomy
anemia and identified three risk factors, including presence of preoperative iron deficiency anemia,
low hemoglobin level on POD7 and the type of surgery (p-value 0.001, 0.002, and 0.001).
Conclusions : We showed that patients with preoperative iron deficiency anemia accounted for nearly half of the
post-gastrectomy anemia population. Further study on the utility of preoperative treatment of anemia before the
surgery should be considered for the quality of life in gastric cancer survivors.
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