Usefulness of staging laparoscopy for advanced gastric cancer.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study was to clarify the usefulness of staging laparoscopy for planning the treatment strategy in patients with advanced gastric cancer.

METHODS

This was a retrospective study of patients with gastric cancer who underwent staging laparoscopy. The patients were divided into three groups according to the presence/absence of peritoneal metastasis (P) and positive peritoneal cytology (CY): P negative (0) CY0, P0CY positive (1), and P1CY1. The treatment strategy after staging laparoscopy was as follows: (1) surgery for the P0CY0 group, (2) surgery with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for the P0CY1 group, and (3) chemotherapy for the P1CY1 group. Survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and statistical differences were analyzed by the log-rank test.

RESULTS

Thirty-four patients were included in this study: 11 in the P0CY0 group, 13 in the P0CY1 group, and 10 in the P1CY1 group. A gastrectomy was done in 11, 10, and no patients, respectively. The survival rate of the P0CY0 patients was significantly better than that of the P0CY1 or P1CY1 patients (P = 0.0106 and 0.0031, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Staging laparoscopy is useful for planning the treatment strategy and estimating the prognosis of patients with advanced gastric cancer.