World J Gastroenterol. 2010 Jul 21;16(27):3358-70. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i27.3358.
Gastric carcinoma is one of the most frequent malignancies in the world and its clinical behavior especially depends on the metastatic potential of the tumor. In particular, lymphatic metastasis is one of the main predictors of tumor recurrence and survival, and current pathological staging systems reflect the concept that lymphatic spread is the most relevant prognostic factor in patients undergoing curative resection. This is compounded by the observation that two-thirds of gastric cancer in the Western world presents at an advanced stage, with lymph node metastasis at diagnosis. All current therapeutic efforts in gastric cancer are directed toward individualization of therapeutic protocols, tailoring the extent of resection and the administration of preoperative and postoperative treatment. The goals of all these strategies are to improve prognosis towards the achievement of a curative resection (R0 resection) with minimal morbidity and mortality, and better postoperative quality of life.
胃癌是世界上最常见的恶性肿瘤之一，其临床行为尤其取决于肿瘤的转移潜能。特别是，淋巴转移是肿瘤复发和生存的主要预测因素之一，目前的病理分期系统反映了这样一种概念，即淋巴扩散是接受根治性切除术患者最相关的预后因素。这是因为观察到，在西方国家，三分之二的胃癌在晚期出现，在诊断时就已经发生淋巴结转移。目前在胃癌治疗中的所有努力都旨在实现治疗方案的个体化，调整切除范围，并进行术前和术后治疗。所有这些策略的目标都是改善预后，实现根治性切除（R0 切除），并尽量减少发病率和死亡率，提高术后生活质量。
