Surgical outcome of 483 patients with early gastric cancer: prognosis, postoperative morbidity and mortality, and gastric remnant cancer

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the characteristics, treatment, postoperative morbidity, mortality, and prognosis of early gastric cancer patients as well as the incidence of gastric remnant cancer after curative surgery based on an analysis of the surgical results of Nippon Medical School Hospital over the past 10 years (1991-2000). METHODOLOGY: Out of 1057 patients with gastric cancer (all stages), 483 patients (301 males and 182 females; mean age 60.9 years) underwent surgery for early gastric cancer. Early gastric cancer, defined as that invading the m or sm layer regardless of lymph node metastasis, was classified according to the Japanese Classification of Gastric Carcinoma. The survival rate was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: The stages of the 483 patients were as follows: stage Ia patients, 443 cases; stage Ib, 29 cases; stage II, 7 cases; and stage IV, 4 cases. The overall 5- and 10-year survival rates were 95.9% and 95.9% for stage Ia, 82.9% and 80.2% for stage Ib, 73.2% and 68.6% for stage II and 0% for stage IV, respectively. No difference was observed in the 5- and 10-year survival rates between patients with D1 and D2 dissections in cases without lymph node metastasis. In patients with n1 positive sm cancer, however, the 5-year survival rate of the patients who underwent D2 dissection was 91.0% while that of those who underwent D1 dissection was 80.0% (P<0.05). The incidences of postoperative morbidity from various cancers included 4.2% from surgical site infections, 1.6% from anastomotic dehiscence, 1.6% from intestinal obstructions, and 3.9% from respiratory and/or heart dysfunction. Three patients (0.6%) died of multiple organ failure. Five patients who had undergone gastrectomy for early gastric cancer were diagnosed as having early cancer in the gastric remnant during a periodic follow-up endoscopy and underwent regastrectomy. CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of early gastric cancer is usually excellent, and the morbidity and mortality rates are satisfactory. D2 lymph node dissection is necessary in patients with n1 positive sm cancer. Periodic follow-up endoscopies in gastrectomized patients may be useful for the early detection of gastric remnant cancer.