Factors related to the incidence of postoperative wound complications in patients undergoing vulvectomy: prospective study

• Grant number: 24/00460-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Diama Bhadra Andrade Peixoto Do Vale
• Grantee: Beatriz Lehoczki Boneto
• Host Institution: Centro de Atenção Integral à Saúde da Mulher (CAISM). Hospital da Mulher Professor Doutor José Aristodemo Pinotti. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Although rare, vulvar cancer has shown an increasing trend in incidence rate in recent decades, especially among young women. Surgical treatment with removal of the tumor and surrounding tissue (vulvectomy) is the main form of treatment but has high associated morbidity. Postoperative wound complications can be minor or major, with dehiscence being the most common. Considering the risk that this unfavorable outcome represents for the health and quality of life of these women, this study aims to analyze the potentially associated clinical, pathological, and perioperative factors, with emphasis on nutritional status, measured based on serum albumin level and the Nutrition Risk Index (NRI). This will be a prospective cohort study of a convenience sample of patients undergoing surgical treatment for vulvar cancer and followed up at the Hospital da Mulher Dr. José Aristodemo Pinotti (CAISM/Unicamp). Consented patients will be included for nine months from the start date of the study, and statistical analysis of their data will be performed via Chi-square, Student's T, Mann Whitney, ANOVA, Kruskall Wallis, Pearson correlation tests or Spearman, Linear Regression, Kaplan-Meyer, Log-Rank Test and COX Regression, assuming a significance level of 5% (P<0.05). The results are expected to contribute to the development of strategies aimed at reducing the morbidity associated with the main form of treatment for vulvar cancer in favor of a better quality of life in the postoperative period.