The resection of non-hepatic intraabdominal recurrence of gastric cancer

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Surgical resection of hepatic or pulmonary metastases from gastrointestinal cancer has been recognized as a curative modality in some patients. However, the role and outcome of the surgical management of a non-hepatic intraabdominal recurrence of gastrointestinal cancer have not been clearly delineated. METHODOLOGY: We treated 5 patients for non-hepatic intraabdominal recurrence of gastric carcinoma surgically. All the resected specimens were microscopically identified as recurrent gastric cancer. Three of 5 patients received postoperative chemotherapy. The clinicopathological findings were analyzed according to the general rules for gastric cancer study. RESULTS: The lymph nodes were dissected for lymph node metastases. Surgical resection of the tumors combined with total gastrectomy, esophagectomy, or colectomy was performed for the local and peritoneal recurrences. All of the recurrent tumors were macroscopically resected with curative states. One patient died of sepsis 54 days after surgery. Three patients died of recurrent gastric cancer: 2 within 1 year of surgery and 1 after 3 years. One patient still survives disease free 3 years and 6 months after the 2nd operation. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical resection for non-hepatic intraabdominal recurrence of gastric cancer is the treatment of choice for selected patients. Surgical resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy may improve the outcome of these patients.