RESUMEN
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To find out a simple and reproductive prognostic index in gastric cancer patients,which can be used as a comparable parameter among different regions of China.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The perigastric metastatic lymph nodes(PGMLN) with long-term survival data were retrospectively evaluated in 148 gastric cancer patients, undergone potentially curative resections.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The 3-year cumulative survival rate was 62.8% and the survival rate decreased significantly with the increase of PGMLN, especially when the PGMLN was more than 6. The PGMLN had a clear linear relationship with total positive lymph nodes(r=0.94, P<0.01), while it had little correlation with total resected lymph nodes(r=0.18,P=0.2).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>PGMLN is a convenient and reliable prognostic factor in gastric cancer patients, which may be a good candidate of comparable parameters among different regions of China.</p>