Clinicopathologic studies of gastric cancer with metastasis to the liver--based on the cases detected at initial surgery.

A total of 3,010 patients with gastric cancer were operated on in our surgical department during the 13-year period from 1968 to 1980. Out of these, 204 patients with liver metastasis detected at the initial surgery were studied. The incidence was 6.8%. The primary lesion was resected in 104 of the 204 cases. Male patients comprised about 75% and 60- to 69-year-old patients constituted about 45%. In relation to the site of the primary lesion, cancer invading to all areas of the stomach comprised 44% of the nonresected group, while cancer located in the lower portion was more frequent than that in the upper portion in the resected group. The resected stomach was analyzed histopathologically. Most of the cancers belonged to Borrmann gross types II and III. Histologically, papillary and well- or moderately differentiated tubular adenocarcinomas constituted 65% and medullary type 61.5%. Concerning the prognosis, median survival in the resected group was two to three months longer than in the nonresected group. When chemotherapy was performed, survival was prolonged a further two to three months.