Effects of a Perioperative Safety Checklist on Postoperative Complications Following Surgery for Gastric Cancer: A Single-Center Preliminary Study

. A Perioperative Safety Checklist (PSC) for gastric cancer (GC) was established to evaluate the effects of PSC on the clinical outcomes of GC. . This single-center preliminary observational study conducted at a tertiary referral hospital included patients with GC who underwent surgery from January 1, 2016, to June 30, 2016, treated without PSC (allocated to the control group) and those who underwent surgery between January 1, 2017, and June 30, 2017, managed according to the PSC designated as the PSCGC (Perioperative Safety Checklist for Gastric Cancer) group. . Overall, 1072 cases were enrolled, 556 cases in PSCGC group and 526 cases in control group. After matching, there were 474 patients in each group. PSC intervention led to significant reductions of the incidence of postoperative intestinal fistula formation ( = .034), the incidence of unplanned secondary surgery ( = 0.039), and the total hospitalization expenses ( < .001). Total completion rate of all 14 checklists items was 79.1%. Intraoperative blood loss in the complete and partial implementation groups was significantly lower than the complete nonimplementation group ( = .002), whereas hospitalization cost showed an opposite trend, which was significantly higher in the incomplete nonimplementation group ( = .015). . PSC implementation was associated with a decreased incidence of gastrointestinal fistula formation, unplanned secondary surgery, and hospitalization cost in patients with GC. However, it had no effect on the in-hospital mortality, the incidence of postoperative complications during hospitalization (ie, incision complications and lung infections), unplanned secondary admission, and the duration of postoperative hospital stay.