PURPOSE:
The purpose of this study was to analyze the clinical
courses of
patients with
gastric cancer and positive
resection margins after a
gastrectomy for
gastric cancer who did not undergo subsequent
surgery. MATERIALS AND
METHODS:
Among 4,452
patients who underwent
surgery for
gastric cancer from January 2001 to December 2007, 20
patients with positive
resection margins after
gastrectomy for
gastric cancer who did not undergo subsequent
surgery were included. The
recurrence patterns were confirmed by postoperative computed
tomography and
gastroscopy, which were performed on a planned
schedule. All
recurrence patterns after
gastrectomy were classified as loco-regional, peritoneal, or distant
metastases.
RESULTS:
The
patients with confirmed
recurrence all had advanced stage
cancer (III-IV), and the
recurrence sites were variable. However, peritoneal and distant
recurrences were more common than loco-regional
recurrences. The
patients with loco-regional
recurrence also had peritoneal and/or distant
recurrence.
CONCLUSIONS:
Patients with
gastric cancer and a positive
resection margin showed more frequent peritoneal and distant
metastases than loco-regional
recurrence. In addition,
patients with loco-regional
recurrence also had peritoneal and distant
recurrence. A positive
resection margin of
gastric cancer was related with poor histological differentiation, diffuse type, and advanced stage (III-IV).