Symptom associations during early recovery after pancreatic cancer surgery: an exploratory cross-sectional network analysis.

Authors

Ningning Xia, Neng Shi, Yuan Song, Yi Miao, Han Yan

Published in

BMC cancer. Jun 23, 2026. Epub Jun 23, 2026.

Abstract

Patients undergoing pancreatic cancer surgery often experience multiple symptoms during early recovery, but the structural relationships among these symptoms remain unclear.
A cross-sectional network analysis was conducted on 213 patients after pancreatic cancer surgery. Symptoms during the first postoperative week were retrospectively assessed on day 7 using the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory gastrointestinal cancer module. Symptom prevalence, severity, centrality, bridge strength, and network stability were examined.
Of the 22 symptoms, 17 occurred in more than 30% of patients. The most prevalent symptoms were lack of appetite, disturbed sleep, distress, pain, and fatigue. Lack of appetite, vomiting, and fatigue had the highest mean severity scores. Within the symptom network, vomiting, distress, and sweating showed the highest strength centrality, with vomiting occupying the most central position. Swelling, fatigue, and irritability showed relatively high bridge strength. The correlation stability coefficient for strength was 0.516.
Symptoms were common but generally mild during the first postoperative week. Network analysis provided a structured description of symptom associations and may inform future longitudinal studies on postoperative symptom trajectories and patient-centered outcomes.

PMID:
42337482
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Jun 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.