Objective: To determine the influence of location in the stomach on the finding of detectable metastasis in patients with gastric cancer.
Design: Retrospective analysis of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma diagnosed in a our hospital from 1981 to 1990.
Patients: Four hundred fifty four patients with gastric adenocarcinoma have been analyzed. In order to assess the presence of metastasis, we reviewed the imaging studies, the surgical description and the pathological records.
Results: Significant differences were not found regarding age, sex or diagnosis delay in patients with or without metastasis. The patients with tumours diffusely affecting the stomach had the greatest incidence of metastasis (hepatic, peritoneal or other) (p < 0.05). On the contrary, patients with tumours in the distal third of the stomach showed the least incidence of metastasis of any location (p < 0.05). Besides, patients with tumours in the distal third showed a progressive decrease in the presence of hepatic metastasis as delay in diagnosis increased.
Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that tumours in the distal third of the stomach have a less aggressive metastatical dissemination than those in other locations of the stomach.