Objective: To identify the most relevant short-term predictor variables in gastric cancer removal.
Experimental design: A retrospective survival analysis executed by using the Cox regression model; the follow-up period is included between 18 and 90 months.
Setting: A district general hospital surgery unit: "Divisione di Chirurgia Generale, Ospedale Civile di Urbino" (Marche, Italy).
Subjects: One hundred and twenty nine consecutive patients operated for gastric cancer.
Interventions: Surgery (total or subtotal gastrectomy).
Main outcome measure: Survival times.
Results: Lymph node involvement (N) (p < 0.0001), cancer intraparietal extension (T) (p < 0.001) and the age of the patients (p < 0.05) have been recognized as significant prognostic factors.
Conclusions: Results show that the short-term prognosis largely depends on both the earliness of the diagnosis and the age of the patients.