Changes in treatment patterns and their influence on long-term survival in patients with stages I-III gastric cancer in The Netherlands.

Studies investigating perioperative chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy changed the treatment of curable gastric cancer in The Netherlands. These changes were evaluated including their influence on survival. Data on patients diagnosed with gastric cancer from 1989 to 2009 were obtained from The Netherlands Cancer Registry. Changes over time in surgery and administration of perioperative chemotherapy, 30-day mortality, 5-year survival and adjusted relative excess risk (RER) of dying were analyzed with multivariable regression for cardia and noncardia cancer. In stages I and II disease, most patients underwent surgery. Since 2005, more patients are treated with (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy. Postoperative mortality ranged from 1% to 7% and 0.4% to 12.2% in cardia and noncardia cancer (<55 to 75+ years). Five-year survival for cardia cancer and noncardia cancer stages I-III and X (unknown stage) was 33% and 50% (2005-2008). The RER of dying was associated with period of diagnosis, age, gender, region, stage, (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy in case of cardia cancer and type of gastric resection in case of noncardia cancer. Administration of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy has increased. No improvement in long-term survival could yet be seen, though it is still too early to expect an improvement in survival as a result of the use of chemotherapy.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy to direct treatment in gastric cancer. A systematic review of the literature.

Gastric cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related deaths around the world. The prevalence of early gastric cancer (EGC) among all gastric cancers of 45-51% in Japan, but only 7-28% in Western countries. The prevalence of EGC is growing partly because of better diagnostics and screening programmes. Possible treatment options for EGC treatment are expanded by the introduction of endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic submucosal dissection Therefore, detailed knowledge about nodal metastatic risk is warranted. We performed a systematic review of the literature concerning studies investigating the role of sentinel lymph node biopsy in EGCr and whether there is enough proof to introduce SLN as a part of treatment for EGC in the Netherlands. Several detection substances (dye or radiocolloid) and injection methods (submucosal or subserosal) are investigated. An overall sensitivity percentage of 85.4% was found. In comparison, high and clinically sufficient percentages were observed for specificity (98.2%), negative predictive value (90.7%) and accuracy (94%). Subgroup analyses showed that the combination of dye and radiocolloid detection substances is the best method for sentinel lymph node detection in early gastric cancer. However, the precise method of sentinel lymph node biopsy in EGC has to be determined further. Large, randomized series should be initiated in Europe to address this issue.

Lymph node examination among patients with gastric cancer: variation between departments of pathology and prognostic impact of lymph node ratio.

INTRODUCTION: At least 15 lymph nodes should be retrieved for proper TNM-staging in gastric cancer. We evaluated nodal harvest and examined its relation to stage distribution and survival at a population-based level, including the value of N-ratio (metastatic/evaluated) as a staging modality. METHODS: All patients resected for primary M0 gastric cancer diagnosed in 1999-2007 in the Dutch Eindhoven Cancer Registry area were included (N = 880). Determinants of lymph node evaluation and their relationship with stage and survival were assessed in multivariable regression analyses. N-ratio categories were determined (N-ratio 0, 0%; N-ratio 1, 0.1%-19%; N-ratio 2, 20%-29%; N-ratio 3, ≥30%) RESULTS: The median number of lymph nodes examined was 7, dependent on N-category (N0: 7; N+: 8). It varied between departments of pathology from 5 to 9. This variation remained after adjustment for relevant patient- and tumour factors. Stage distribution differed between pathology departments (proportion N0 ranging from 14% to 21%, p = 0.003). Among resected patients with N0M0 disease and <7 nodes examined, 5-year survival was 56%, compared to 69% among patients with ≥7 nodes examined (p = 0.012). Five-year survival for N-ratio 0 was 58%, N-ratio 1 50%, N-ratio 2 18% and N-ratio 3 11% (p < 0.0001), while 5-year survival ranged from 58% for N0, 17% for N1, and 11% for N2/3 (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: In this series of patients with a relatively low number of evaluated lymph nodes, a high prognostic accuracy of N-ratio was found. However, improvement in nodal assessment is mandatory.

Trends in incidence, treatment and survival of gastric adenocarcinoma between 1990 and 2007: a population-based study in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: Survival of gastric cancer in the Western world remains poor. We conducted a retrospective population-based study to evaluate trends in incidence, treatment and outcome of gastric adenocarcinoma. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma during 1990-2007 in the Dutch Eindhoven Cancer Registry area were included (n=4,797). Trend analyses were conducted for incidence, mortality, tumour and patient characteristics, treatment and crude overall survival, according to tumour location (cardia versus non-cardia). Temporal changes in the odds of undergoing surgery and the risk of death were analysed by means of multivariable regression methods. RESULTS: Age-standardised incidence decreased among males (24-12 per 100,000 inhabitants) and females (10-6); mortality rates decreased at a similar pace. The proportion of cardia tumours remained stable. Stage distribution worsened over time among patients with cardia (stages I and II: 32% in 1990-1993 and 22% in 2006-2007, p=0.005) and non-cardia (stage IV: 33% in 1990-1993 and 40% in 2006-2007, p=0.0003) cancer. Chemotherapy rates increased in all settings. Five-year survival worsened over time for patients with non-cardia tumours. Age and stage had significant influence on survival after stratification for tumour localisation. After adjustments for relevant factors (i.e. stage), the risk of death decreased since the late 90s for patients with a cardia tumour (hazard ratio 0.8, p=0.01). CONCLUSION: The absence of improvement in survival rates indicates the need for earlier detection and prospective studies to evaluate new therapy regimens with standardised surgery and pathology.

FDG-PET has no definite role in preoperative imaging in gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is fourth on the incidence list of cancers worldwide with a high disease-related mortality rate. Curation can only be achieved by a radical resection including an adequate lymphadenectomy. However, prognosis remains poor and cancer recurrence rates are high, also due to lymph node metastases. To improve outcome, (neo)adjuvant treatment strategies with chemo- and/or radiotherapy regimes are employed. AIMS: Accurate staging of gastric cancer at primary diagnosis is essential for adequate treatment. In this non-systematic review the role 18-F-Fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in preoperative staging is investigated. Furthermore, the results of neoadjuvant chemotherapy-induced tumour response monitoring by FDG-PET are discussed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: It is concluded that currently FDG-PET has no role in the primary detection of gastric cancer due to its low sensitivity. FDG-PET shows, however, slightly better results in the evaluation of lymph node metastases in gastric cancer compared to CT and could have therefore a role in the preoperative staging. Improvement in accuracy could be achieved by using PET/CT or other PET tracers than FDG, but these modalities need further investigation. FDG-PET, however, adequately detects therapy responders at an early stage following neoadjuvant chemotherapy.