Abstract:Objective To compare the effect of visceral fat area (VFA) on perioperative recovery after total gastrectomy for gastric cancer between excessive VFA and normal VFA patients. Methods The clinical data of 65 patients with gastric carcinoma who underwent total gastrectomy from April 2015 to June 2016 in the Department of General Surgery of our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into excessive VFA group (group A, 30 cases) and normal VFA group (group B, 35 cases) according to the visceral fat area acquired by preoperative CT scanning. The main observation index included preoperative demographic features, operation-related variables during surgery, postoperative complications and death. Results The intraoperative blood loss of the group A was more than that of the group B, the difference was statistically significant (t = 0.810, P= 0.030). The postoperative infection rate of the group A was statistically higher than that of the group B (t = 4.997,P = 0.038). The rate of anastomotic fistula in the group A was higher than that in the group B, the difference was statistically significant (t = 4.940,P = 0.042). The postoperative hospital stay of the group A was statistically longer than that of the group B (t = 3.122,P =0.003). There were no statistically differences between the two groups concerning other postoperative complications and the number of death (P > 0.05). Conclusions The patients with excessive visceral fat have more blood loss during total gastrectomy, higher risks of postoperative infection and anastomotic leakage, and longer postoperative hospital stay.