Factors Predicting Survival of Patients with Gastric Cancer

• Published in: Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP Vol. 15; no. 14; pp. 5835 - 5838
• Main Authors: Lin, Wen-Li, Sun, Jia-Ling, Chang, Shu-Chan, Wu, Pei-Hua, Huang, Wen-Tsung, Tsao, Chao-Jung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: survival; Taiwan; metastatic lymph nodes; Gastric cancer
• ISSN: 1513-7368; 2476-762X

Background: Gastric cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death in Taiwan. The literature has previously shown that age, tumor site, T categories, and number of metastatic nodes significantly affect prognosis. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term survival of patients with gastric cancer, as well as the effect of particular prognostic factors on survival. Materials and Methods: This was a survival analysis study with retrospective design. We reviewed the records of 64 patients with adenocarcinoma of the stomach who had undergone gastrectomy with curative intent between 2009 and 2012 at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. Data extracted from patient documents included age, gender distribution, tumor location, and pathological grading. Results: The median follow-up time was 4 years, and there were 31 deaths attributed to gastric cancer. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that retrieval of less than 15 lymph nodes from a patient was a significant predictor of survival. A significant predictor of poorer survival was higher pathological grading. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the number of lymph nodes retrieved and pathological grading could be viewed as crucial prognostic factors affecting the survival of individuals with gastric cancer.