Dr. Khan on the Rationale of Examining Disparate Outcomes in GI Tract Cancer Surgery

Sajid A. Khan MD, FACS, FSSO, associate professor of surgery (oncology), Yale School of Medicine, section chief, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Mixed Tumors, co-director, Team Science, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Yale Cancer Center, discusses the rationale of examining disparate outcomes in gastrointestinal (GI) tract cancer surgery.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought forth preexisting racial and ethnic disparities that exist in the treatment of patients, Khan says. Moreover, GI cancer accounts for approximately 35% of cancer-related deaths, with African Americans having a higher GI cancer burden compared with White patients and a higher risk of death due to GI cancer, Khan explains. Because of this, a retrospective cohort study was conducted to examine whether there are disparate outcomes in GI tract cancer surgery based on race and ethnicity, Khan adds.

Although there have been smaller studies focusing on GI surgical oncology, there have not been any studies that have looked comprehensively at all GI cancer surgery outcomes and their relation to treatment disparities, Khan concludes.