Association between disseminated cancer and postoperative 30-day mortality in adult patients with brain tumor craniotomy - Original research

Sep 28, 2026

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Association between disseminated cancer and 30-day postoperative mortality after brain tumor craniotomy remains insufficiently quantified in adults. A retrospective study using propensity score matching on National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data (2012–2015) assessed disseminated cancer as the independent variable and 30-day postoperative mortality as the outcome, with logistic regression on 1:1 matched samples and robust estimation. Among 18,642 eligible patients, 4,022 had disseminated cancer; mortality was 4.97% in DC versus 2.46% overall. Adjusted analyses showed significantly higher 30-day mortality for DC patients, with odds ratios ranging from 1.72 to 2.06. Preoperative decisions and postoperative management should be modified accordingly.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Postoperative 30-day mortality and craniotomy

Role of disseminated cancer in surgical risk

Prior evidence and clinical management

Materials and methods

Study design and database

Variables and outcomes

Statistical analysis

Results

Cohort characteristics

Mortality differences

Adjusted associations

Conclusion

TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 19 December 2025 DOI 10.3389/fonc.2025.1555850 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Shengwen Calvin Li, Children ’s Hospital of Orange County, United States REVIEWED BY Piyush Kalakoti, The University of Iowa, United States Takehito Sato, Nagoya University Hospital, Japan *CORRESPONDENCE Guodong Huang [huangguodong@email.szu.edu.cn](huangguodong@email.szu.edu.cn)[ ](huangguodong@email.szu.edu.cn)Haofei Hu [huhaofei0319@126.com](huhaofei0319@126.com) †These authors have contributed equally to this work RECEIVED 05 January 2025 REVISED 23 November 2025 ACCEPTED 03 December 2025 PUBLISHED 19 December 2025 CITATION Liu Y, Cao K, He R, Zheng W, Li Z, Li X, Wang M, Hu H and Huang G (2025) Association between disseminated cancer and postoperative 30-day mortality in adult patients with brain tumor craniotomy. Front. Oncol. 15:1555850 . doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1555850 COPYRIGHT © 2025 Liu, Cao, He, Zheng, Li, Li, Wang, Hu and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Association between disseminated cancer and postoperative 30-day mortality in adult patients with brain tumor craniotomy Yufei Liu 1†, Ke Cao 2†, Rui He 1, Wenjian Zheng 1, Zongyang Li 1, Xuanchen Li 1, Mengqi Wang1, Haofei Hu 3* and Guodong Huang 1* 1 Department of Neurosurgery, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Neurosurgery, the First Afﬁliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People ’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, 2 Brain Injury Centre, Department of Neurosurgery, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China, 3 Nephrological Department, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, The First Afﬁliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China Background: Quantitative evidence on the association between disseminated cancer (DC) and 30-day postoperative mortality after tumor resection c ran iotomy in adults is limited. This study evaluates the association between them. Materials and methods: This retrospective analysis utilized propensity score matching (PSM) on cases extracted from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database (2012-2015) . The study examined DC as the independent variable and 30-day postoperative mortality as the dependent outcome. A logistic regression analysis was conducted on the PSM data that were 1:1 matched. The DC-mortality association was assessed using robust statistical estimation methods. Results: The study cohort comprised 18,642 eligible patients (52 . 6% male, 47 .4% female), including 4,022 (21 . 57%) with DC. The mortality rate was signiﬁcantly higher in DC patients (4 . 97%) compared to the overall cohort undergoing tumorrelated craniotomy (2 .46%) . Multivariate analysis and propensity score-adjusted analysis demonstrated that, compared with non-DC, the postoperative 30-day mortality of patients with DC undergoing craniotomy for brain tumors signiﬁcantly increased, with associated odds ratios of 1 .72 to 2 .06. Conclusion: Given the relatively high risk of mortality within 30 days after craniotomy in patients with DC, both preoperative surgical decision-making and postoperative management strategies should be appropriately modiﬁed to reduce mortality. KEYWORDS disseminated cancer, brain tumor, craniotomy, propensity score matching, mortality Frontiers in Oncology 01 [frontiersin.org](frontiersin.org) Background Craniotomy is the cornerstone of most brain tumor treatments around the world. It is unfortunate that craniotomies for brain tumo

FAQs

What question does the study address?

The study evaluates the association between disseminated cancer and 30-day postoperative mortality after tumor resection craniotomy in adult patients.

How were patients analyzed?

A retrospective propensity score matching approach was used on cases from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database (2012–2015), with 1:1 matching and logistic regression on the matched data.

What did the results show about 30-day mortality?

Patients with disseminated cancer had higher 30-day mortality (4.97%) than the overall cohort (2.46%). Multivariate and propensity score-adjusted analyses showed increased mortality for DC patients with odds ratios from 1.72 to 2.06.

What clinical implication does the conclusion provide?

Because 30-day mortality risk is relatively high for DC patients after craniotomy, preoperative surgical decision-making and postoperative management should be adjusted to reduce mortality.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Finn