Predictors of long-term survival in large gastric carcinoma patients.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To improve the treatment results for large gastric carcinoma, it is important to know the characteristics of long-term survivors. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinicopathological features of large gastric carcinoma patients and clarify the prognostic factors associated with long-term survival.

METHODOLOGY

Between December 1996 and December 2002, a total of 334 patients entered the study. They underwent surgery for gastric carcinomas measuring 10cm or more in diameter. We examined 12 clinicopathological factors associated with the patient, tumor and surgery. Multivariate analysis was performed using Cox's proportional hazards model.

RESULTS

The 5-year survival rate was influenced by the extent of lymph node dissection, histological type, depth on invasion, lymph node metastasis, peritoneal dissemination, liver metastasis and disease stage. Of these, two independent prognostic factors were depth on invasion and lymph node metastasis.

CONCLUSIONS

Depth on invasion and lymph node metastasis emerged as two independent prognostic factors for the prediction of long-term survival in large gastric carcinoma patients. We can make a suitable treatment strategy for patients with gastric cancer through consideration of the prognostic factors.