Is there a place for multivisceral resections in the treatment of gastric cancer?

Abstract

It is known that multivisceral resections (MVR) are associated with significant numbers of post-operative complications. However, the effectiveness of MVR in increasing the patients' life expectancy remains a matter of debate. Are the risks of extended volume resections justified? It has been previously assumed that the removal of adjacent organs could improve the prognosis of the disease, even in the absence of direct invasion. However, in the era of the big potential of chemoand radiation therapy, the implementation of an over-extensive surgical volume in the absence of tumor invasion is doubtful. In the presence of regional lymphatic nodes metastases, MVR do not improve prognosis, compared to that after palliative resections. If the patient has distant metastases, or the operation has been obviously not radical enough, MVR worsen the prognosis. In grade T4b invasion and with the absence of life threatening complications, it is optimal to start with neoadjuvant or perioperative chemotherapy. In the case of intraoperative suspicion of adjacent anatomical structures involvement, with no distant metastases, en bloc resection in combination with D2 lymphodissection is indicated. In approximately 30–60% of cases, invasion is not confirmed by histology. The only way to improve the results of surgical treatment of gastric cancer patients is to carefully assess the extension of the disease at the preoperative stage, select patients and team work of surgeons with chemotherapists, radiologists and specialists in diagnostics.