European single-center experience on 356 operated patients for gastric cancer

Aim: Surgery in association with lymphadenectomy is the treatment of choice for the gastric adenocarcinoma. Aim is to report our experience in the surgical treatment of gastric cancer in a European center. Material and methods: A prospectively maintained database identified 515 patients. Staging laparoscopy was performed to rule out peritoneal carcinomatosis in suspicious cases. Type of surgery and lymphadenectomy were determined according to the Japanese guidelines and pathological staging according to the TNM classification. Survival was analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Staging laparoscopy avoided 150 (29.1%) unnecessary laparotomies. A total of 356 patients underwent surgery with curative intent. Overall postoperative morbidity and mortality rates were 16.8% and 5.9%, respectively. Two hundred-fifty-one patients (70%) were T3-T4. Negative lymph-nodes were observed in 71 patients (19.9%). One-hundred- seventy-nine were at least stage III. At a mean follow-up of 80.6 months, the overall and disease-free survival rates were 54.4% and 50.6%, respectively. The survival stratification based on the type of lymphadenectomy showed an overall survival rate of 43% and 65.5% in case of D1 and D2 lymphadenectomy, respectively. Based on the tumor stage the overall survival rate was 90%, 62.7%, 36.4% and the disease-free survival was 90%, 54.3%, 31.3%, for stage I, II and III, respectively. Conclusions: Total or subtotal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy and adjuvant therapy for the treatment of locally advanced gastric cancer proved a valuable strategy. Staging laparoscopy is recommended.