Background and objectives: Gastric cancer patients with intraperitoneal cancer cells have extremely poor prognoses, because they frequently develop peritoneal metastasis. The aim of the current study is to clarify the clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with intraperitoneal free cancer cells who do not have recurrences.
Methods: This study examined 1,985 gastric adenocarcinoma patients who underwent gastrectomies at our institution between January 1975 and December 2000.
Results: The 5-year survival rate of advanced gastric cancer patients with intraperitoneal free cancer cells, but no macroscopic peritoneal metastases (P0Cy1), is 15.3%. Multivariate analysis identified only lymph node metastasis as an independent prognostic indicator in P0Cy1 patients. The 5-year survival rates of P0Cy1 patients were 62.5%, 19.1%, 17.6%, and 9.4% in n0, n1, n2, and n3 patients, respectively. Peritoneal recurrence was observed significantly more often in P0Cy1 patients than in advanced gastric cancer patients without intraperitoneal free cancer cells.
Conclusions: Our data indicate that prognoses of P0Cy1 patients without lymph node metastasis are good, whereas the prognoses of those with lymph node metastasis are extremely poor. Therefore, radical surgery and adequate adjuvant chemotherapy should be performed for P0Cy1 patients with no lymph node metastasis.
Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.