Optimal surgical strategy for potentially curable serosa-involved gastric carcinoma with intraperitoneal free cancer cells.

Abstract

Radical gastrectomy with systematic lymphadenectomy (RG) remains controversial in the treatment of gastric carcinoma. On the other hand, the prognosis of gastric carcinoma, in the presence of intraperitoneal free cancer cells, is poor. The optimal surgical strategy for serosa-involved gastric carcinoma with intraperitoneal free cancer cells remains undefined. A prospective study of intraperitoneal cytologic washing was conducted on 134 patients with potentially curable serosa-involved gastric carcinoma who underwent RG. During the same period, 28 patients with resectable tumors who received palliative simple gastrectomies because of the presence of gross incurable conditions (eg, multiple hepatic metastases, peritoneal carcinomatosis, or extra-abdominal metastasis) were used as controls. Intraperitoneal free cancer cells were found in 26 patients (19.4 percent). Compared with the remaining 108 patients without free cancer cells, there were no significant differences in the clinicopathologic characteristics and pathologic stages. No patients died after palliative resection, but five patients died after RG. The patients with free intraperitoneal free cancer cells had a poorer long-term prognosis after RG than those without free cancer cells (p < 0.0001). The prognosis for such patients was similar to the prognosis of those who underwent palliative resection. A peritoneal washing cytologic examination is mandatory before resection for potentially curable serosa-involved gastric carcinoma. When free cancer cells appear in the washing fluid, the cancer is incurable. Simply gastrectomy without additional lymphadenectomy is the optimal strategy for treatment.