A CLINICAL STUDY OF 11 CASES OF CANCER OF THE GASTRIC REMNANT

Abstract

It can be presumed that a recent increase in patients undergone gastrectomy for gastric cancer increases the occurrence of so-called “cancer of gastric remnant”. Eleven cases of cancer of the gastric remnant found at our hospital during the past 5 years were studied for location, intestinal metaplasia in the surrounding epithelium, and prognosis. The 11 cases accounted for 2.7% of all operative cases for gastric cancer in the same period. Of the 11 cases, 7 were first operated on for adenocarcinoma, and 4, for peptic ulcer. Five cases had over 10 years duration between the first operation and the diagnosis of cancer of the gastric remnant. Nine out of the eleven cases received total extirpation of the remnant stomach, one received partial resection, and one was unresectable. Curative resection was able to be done in eight cases. Six out of eight cases of tubular adenocarcinoma had the predominant intestinal metaplasia in the surrounding epithelium. Histological grading was compared with the primary lesion in six cases. The cancer of the gastric remnant had a tendency of poorer differentiation. The mean survival rate of the cases which received curative resection at the 4th postoperative year was 80%. The most important factors to improve the prognosis also seems to be early detection and curative resection.