Introduction:
Assessment of the influence of surgical treatment of selected malignant tumours on gait kinematics.

Methods:
The study involved 115 patients of the Lower Silesian Oncology Centre in Wroclaw, Poland (95 women and 20 men), mean age 58.39 ± 11.14 years, treated surgically for diagnosed cancer (group A: breast cancer; group B: reproductive cancer; group C: gastrointestinal cancer). Gait measurements were performed with the BTS G-Walk accelerometer before and after the surgery (5th–6th postoperative day). The t-test for dependent samples and analysis of variance – least significant difference test – were applied.

Results:
A significant decrease in cadence and walking speed was observed, by 7.9% (p < 0.001) and 17.5% (p < 0.001) in group B, and by 4.0% (p < 0.001) and 11.7% (p < 0.001) in group C, respectively. Additionally, there was an upward trend for symmetry of pelvic tilt in the sagittal plane (67.9% vs. 76.7%, p = 0.09) in group A, and a significant difference in pelvic deflections in the frontal plane (94.8% vs. 88.1%, p = 0.02) in group C. Statistically significant differences were found in walking cadence between groups A and B (p = 0.002), and in walking speed between group A and groups B and C (group A vs. B: p < 0.001; group A vs. C: p = 0.03).

Conclusions:
In patients treated surgically for reproductive system and gastrointestinal cancers, a decrease in time and space parameters of gait was demonstrated. Additionally, in patients treated for gastrointestinal cancers, the effect of surgical treatment on gait kinematics was found.