Is linitis plastica a contraindication for surgical resection? A 7-institution study of the U.S. Gastric Cancer Collaborative.

Abstract

118 Background: Linitis plastica (LP) describes a diffusively infiltrative gastric adenocarcinoma that portends poor prognosis. Current treatment guidelines do not differentiate between LP and non-LP cancers and it is not known if the same staging system should be applied to both situations. Methods: Using the multi-institutional U.S. Gastric Cancer Collaborative database, 869 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma who underwent resection between 2000-2012 were identified. Clinicopathologic, perioperative and survival outcomes of the 58 patients with LP were compared to the 811 patients without LP. Results: Advanced disease (stage III/IV) at presentation was more common in patients with LP compared to non-LP patients (90 vs 44%, p<0.01). Despite the fact that most LP patients underwent total gastrectomy (88% vs 57%, p<0.01), positive margins were more common in LP patients (33 vs 7%, p<0.01). There was no difference in perioperative complications (48 vs 43%, p=0.45) or mortality (7 vs 3%, p=0.12) between LP and non-LP patients. While survival correlated with stage in non-LP patients, there was no difference in median overall survival (OS) of LP patients based on stage (I/II, 17.3 mos; III, 10.6 mos; IV, 12.0 mos; p=0.46). Median OS was significantly worse in patients with LP (11.6 vs 37.8 months, p<0.01) when margin status and extent of lymphadenectomy were not factored in the analysis. However, when analyzing only patients with optimal resections (R0, D2 lymphadenectomy), the median OS for stage III LP (n=22) and non-LP (n=185) patients was nearly identical (26.8 vs 25.3 mos, p=0.69). There were no independent prognostic factors identified to predict survival in LP patients undergoing curative resection. Conclusions: The poor prognosis of LP gastric cancer is due primarily to its advanced stage at diagnosis. However, LP patients who undergo optimal resections can expect similar long term survival compared to optimally resected non-LP patients with advanced stage disease. Patient selection and multidisciplinary management are paramount when considering surgical resection in patients with gastric LP.