RESUMO
Objective To investigate an effective method for detecting lymphatic micrometastasis in gastric carcinoma.Methods RT-PCR technique was applied to examine MMP-7 mRNA in 94 lymph nodes in 24 cases of gastric carcinoma.Results Routine pathological method detected lymphatic metastasis in 54 lymph nodes,while MMP-7 mRNA RT-PCR showed positive in 78 lymph nodes. When re-examination for the 28 negative lymph nodes in the initial pathological examination and positive in RT-PCR, 8 lymph nodes with metastasis were found by routine pathological method.2 of 5 patients whose lymph nodes were negitive in pathological examination,but positive in MMP-7mRNA were found liver metastasis 16 and 22 months after radical gastrectomy. Conclusions MMP-7 mRNA RT-PCR is a sensitive method for detecting lymphatic micrometastasis for patients with gastric carcinoma. It is a great help for eluvating the postoperative prognosis and supplemental treatmemt.