Plasma desacyl ghrelin-to-acyl ghrelin ratio is a predictor of postoperative complications and prognosis after pancreaticoduodenectomy.

The current study aimed to clarify the significance of the preoperative desacyl ghrelin (DG)-to-acyl ghrelin (AG) ratio in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). Ghrelin, a peptide hormone mainly produced in the stomach, possesses unique functions. Recently, studies have determined the involvement of plasma gherlin in certain postoperative outcomes, particularly in surgical resections of the stomach. Although PD involves gastric resection, few reports have determined the involvement of ghrelin following PD. From April 2003 to December 2011, 195 patients underwent PD for tumors of the pancreatic head, bile duct and ampulla of Vater at the Division of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Miyazaki Faculty of Medicine (Miyazaki, Japan). Of these, 83 patients were enrolled into the present study as their plasma gherlin levels were measured. AG, DG, total ghrelin (TG) and the DG-to-AG ratio (D/A) were subsequently assessed. Furthermore, the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and high-sensitivity modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (HS-mGPS) were determined. Morbidity was examined in all 83 patients, but mortality was only determined in 69 individuals after 14 patients were excluded due to the presence of benign disease. The results revealed that the TG of patients undergoing standard PD (SPD) was significantly lower than that of patients undergoing pylorus-preserving PD or subtotal stomach-preserving PD. It was also determined that TG levels declined significantly in SPD patients at 2 weeks after surgery. Negative associations were identified between plasma ghrelin levels and PNI, and between serum albumin and HS-mGPS. Patient morbidity was determined to be 31.3% and the severe complications exhibited by patients included pancreatic fistula (14.5%), intra-abdominal abscess (15.7%), intra-abdominal bleeding (6.0%) and liver abscess (1.2%). Multivariate analysis revealed that disease location and low D/A were independent risk factors for severe complications. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 41.5%. Multivariate analysis also demonstrated that diabetes mellitus, long postoperative hospital stay and low D/A were independent risk factors for OS. The present study revealed the D/A may serve as a useful predictive factor for postoperative complications and prognosis after PD.