C-protein Reactive for the Detection of Anastomotic Leakage After Surgery for Digestive Cancer

The occurrence of anastomotic fistula (AF) is the most feared complication after digestive cancer surgery. It is responsible for high morbidity and accounts for more than a third of the deaths observed. The rate of anastomotic fistula reported in the literature varies between 1 and 40% according to the definition chosen by the authors. In the literature, the occurrence of the anastomotic fistula is responsible for a mortality rate of 4% and an overall morbidity of 35%. In the short term, the anastomotic fistula can put the patient's vital prognosis at risk by its septic consequences. Also, it is responsible for increasing the length of stay and costs. In the longer term, anastomotic fistula affects the functional prognosis of the patient as well as oncology in patients operated for cancer.

Early rehabilitation becomes a standard in colorectal surgery, with exits around the 5th postoperative day. Anastomotic fistulas and their complications may appear well beyond. The diagnosis is made on average around 6-7 postoperative days. At an early stage, clinical signs are inconsistent and not very specific. Anastomotic fistula can manifest itself in a variety of clinical presentations, ranging from no symptoms to life-threatening septic shock. Routine imaging is neither reliable nor cost-effective for the detection of anastomotic fistulas and has the disadvantage of radiation.

It is necessary to find an intraperitoneal infection marker with a high negative predictive value. This is particularly important in the era of early rehabilitation, allowing for safe patient discharge with a low risk of readmission. C-reactive protein (CRP) has already shown its utility in the early detection of infections after digestive surgery, however, because of conflicting results, no clear recommendations are established in the literature.

Our study aims are to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of the postoperative CRP trajectory as an approach to eliminate the diagnosis of anastomotic fistula and to try to establish an optimal threshold with high sensitivity and negative predictive value.