Prediction of postoperative complications after oesophagectomy using machine-learning methods

Abstract

Abstract Background Oesophagectomy is an operation with a high risk of postoperative complications. The aim of this single-centre retrospective study was to apply machine-learning methods to predict complications (Clavien–Dindo grade IIIa or higher) and specific adverse events. Methods Patients with resectable adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus and gastro-oesophageal junction who underwent Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy between 2016 and 2021 were included. The tested algorithms were logistic regression after recursive feature elimination, random forest, k-nearest neighbour, support vector machine, and neural network. The algorithms were also compared with a current risk score (the Cologne risk score). Results 457 patients had Clavien–Dindo grade IIIa or higher complications (52.9 per cent) versus 407 patients with Clavien–Dindo grade 0, I, or II complications (47.1 per cent). After 3-fold imputation and 3-fold cross-validation, the overall accuracies were: logistic regression after recursive feature elimination, 0.528; random forest, 0.535; k-nearest neighbour, 0.491; support vector machine, 0.511; neural network, 0.688; and Cologne risk score, 0.510. For medical complications, the results were: logistic regression after recursive feature elimination, 0.688; random forest, 0.664; k-nearest neighbour, 0.673; support vector machine, 0.681; neural network, 0.692; and Cologne risk score, 0.650. For surgical complications, the results were: logistic regression after recursive feature elimination, 0.621; random forest, 0.617; k-nearest neighbour, 0.620; support vector machine, 0.634; neural network, 0.667; and Cologne risk score, 0.624. The calculated area under the curve of the neural network was 0.672 for Clavien–Dindo grade IIIa or higher, 0.695 for medical complications, and 0.653 for surgical complications. Conclusion The neural network scored the highest accuracies compared with all of the other models for the prediction of postoperative complications after oesophagectomy.