Assessment of nutritional status in laparoscopic gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

Malnutrition is very common in gastric cancer patients and can be detected in up to 85% of patients with gastric cancer. Malnutrition is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, prolonged hospital stay, poor treatment tolerance, and lower survival rate. Malnutrition also has an impact on quality of life. The early detection of nutritional risk with appropriate nutritional care can significantly reduce patient's postoperative morbidity and mortality. Because there is no gold standard tool, appropriate tools should be selected and applied depending on one's institutional conditions. And, it is recommended that nutritional assessment should be achieved for every patient at pre/post-operative period.