Effect of Preoperative Tumor Under-Staging on the Long-term Survival of Patients Undergoing Radical Gastrectomy for Gastric Cancer / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#This study aimed to evaluate the effect of preoperative tumor staging deviation (PTSD) on the long-term survival of patients undergoing radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer (RGGC). @*Materials and Methods@#Clinicopathological data of 2,346 patients who underwent RGGC were retrospectively analyzed. The preoperative tumor-lymph node-metastasis (TNM) under-staging group (uTNM) comprised patients who had earlier preoperative TNM than postoperative TNM, and the no preoperative under-staging group (nTNM) comprised the remaining patients. @*Results@#There were 1,031 uTNM (44.0%) and 1,315 nTNM cases (56.0%). Cox prognostic analysis revealed that PTSD independently affected the overall survival (OS) after surgery. The 5-year OS was lower in the uTNM group (41.8%) than in the nTNM group (71.6%). The patients less than 65 years old, with lower American Society of Anaesthesiologists score, 2-5 cm tumor located at the lower stomach, and cT1 or cN0 preoperative staging would more likely undergo D1+ lymph node dissection (LND) in uTNM (p 2 cm and body mass index ≤ 22.72 kg/m2 were independent risk factors of preoperative TNM tumor under-staging in patients with cT1N0M0 staging (p < 0.05). @*Conclusion@#Underestimated tumor staging is not rare, which possibly results in inadequate LND and affects the long-term survival for patients undergoing RGGC. D2 LND should be carefully performed in patients who are predisposed to this underestimation.