Analysis of 58 Patients Surviving More Than Ten Years After Operative Treatment of Gastric Cancer

• We evaluated 58 patients who were still alive more than ten years after operative treatment of gastric cancer. We reexamined their histologie specimens and compared them with those of matched paired controls of the same sex and age who had died of gastric cancer. Forty-two patients consented to a follow-up study. The age of the patients did not affect survival. For patients with gastric cancer, those with distal cancer or an ulcer simulating cancer had had a better prognosis. Forty percent of the patients had had an early gastric cancer. Only two patients had had lymph node metastases in regional lymph nodes, and macroscopic tumor growth through the serosa had been recorded in only four cases. In 23 cases, a distal resection had proved successful. No significant correlation between intestinal or diffuse types of cancer and prognosis was observed. One recurrence after ten years was found; in one case, there was a new cancer in the gastric remnant. In addition, biopsy specimens from two patients showed grave dysplasia. We suggest that throughout their lives annual follow-up examinations be performed in patients who have undergone radical operations for gastric cancer.

(Arch Surg 1987;122:1052-1054)