PURPOSE:
Recently, early
gastric cancer has increased in
Korea. Thus, endoscopic
treatment and laparoscopic
gastrectomy has increased in early
gastric cancer patients. We studied periodic change and characteristics in
gastric cancer patients. Thus, we analyzed annual change of clinicopathological characteristics and long-term
survival results of
gastric cancer patients after radical
gastrectomy over 10 years.
METHODS:
From 1995 to 2004, 2,387
patients underwent radical
gastrectomy due to
gastric cancer. We analyzed annual
characteristics, sex,
age distribution,
cancer location, depth of invasion,
lymph node metastasis, UICC stage and 5-year
survival rates, retrospectively from
medical records.
RESULTS:
The number of
gastric cancer patient has increased annually. The ratio of
male to
female was 21.
Gastric cancer was most common and increased annually in the 60~79-year
age group. Early
gastric cancer increased annually. The 5-year
survival rate was 93% in stage Ia, 89% in stage Ib, 72% in stage II, 51% in stage IIIA, 38% in stage IIIb and 22% in stage IV.
Multivariate analysis revealed that UICC stage (or depth of invasion and
lymph node metastasis) and
cancer location were the main independent
prognostic factors.
CONCLUSION:
Prognosis is improved due to increase of early
gastric cancer. So, we should attempt
diagnosis early and treat early
gastric cancer. Active
treatment is recommended even for the
elderly gastric cancer patients. And care should be taken with
respect to
morbidity and
mortality.