Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers – such as pancreatic, colorectal, and liver cancer – often require surgical treatment. Because these procedures are complex, complications can happen.
“Cancer surgery complications are associated with a variety of factors, including stage at diagnosis, other diagnosed health conditions that the patient has, tumor characteristics, and genetics. However, non-medical factors related to the patient’s social environment have also been shown to influence surgical outcomes,” explained Division of Surgical Oncology Assistant Professor Dr. Nabeel Zafar. “Furthermore, disparities in cancer outcomes have only worsened over the past few decades.”
Zafar recently received a one-year, $60,000 Institutional Research Grant from the American Cancer Society and the UW Carbone Cancer Center to explore the factors in a patient’s social environment that contribute to poor outcomes following GI cancer surgery. The goal is to identify individual or community-level factors that can be modified prior to surgery to improve post-operative outcomes.
“At the end of this study, we’ll have a better understanding of the specific social factors that impact the health of patients undergoing GI cancer surgery in Wisconsin and how prevalent they are,” said Zafar. “This information will then be used to design an intervention study aimed at reducing disparities in cancer surgery outcomes.”