Background : : The incidence of pancreatic cancer in the elderly is increasing, and the nutritional status of pancreatic cancer patients is poorer than that of other carcinomas. This retrospective study aimed to clarify the relationship between nutritional index and length of stay in elderly patients undergoing pancreatic cancer surgery, and to identify factors affecting the length of stay.

Methods : A Total of 102 patients over 65 years of age who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were retrospectively enrolled from January 1, 2010 to September 30, 2020. All patients were subjected to nutritional screening using Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) and Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI). Data of the patients’ general characteristics, disease-related characteristics, preoperative hematologic examination and length of stay were collected.

Results : The average GNRI of the nutritional indexes was 95.66 (±6.95), 69 patients (67.6%) were in low GNRI (malnutrition group) and 33 (32.4%) were in high GNRI (normal group). The average PNI was 45.46 (±5.65), low PNI (malnutrition group) was 56 patients (54.9%), high PNI (normal group) was 46 patients (45.1%). The average total length of stay was 23.12±10.69 days, the preoperative length of stay was 5.81±3.87 days, and the postoperative length of stay was 17.30±9.34 days. Total length of stay according to the nutritional indexes of the subjects was long in the low GNRI (t=-2.090, p=.039) and low PNI (t=-2.287, p=.024) groups. The length of stay before surgery was also longer in low GNRI (t=-3.506, p=.001) and low PNI (t=-3.796, p<.001).

Conclusions : The study results showed that poorer preoperative nutritional status in elderly patients with pancreatic cancer delays overall hospitalization. Assessment of nutritional status of patients using GNRI and PNI is a good strategy for evaluating elderly patients at high risk during the length of hospital stay.