Long-term survival after surgical resection of locoregional gastric adenocarcinoma recurrence — a case report

Abstract

Introduction. Recurrence is the leading cause of death of gastric cancer patients after curative resection. This report describes a 44-year-old woman with gastric adenocarcinoma and surgically resected locoregional recurrence, who has survived for more than 13 years after diagnosis. Case report. A 33-year-old woman was admitted to the Gastroenterology Clinic with an episode of epigastric pain and minor weight loss. Two years earlier she had been diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma G2 of the antrum, pT2N1M0 (IIA) stage. She had undergone total gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy and Roux-en-Y anastomosis followed by postoperative chemotherapy. Further diagnostic investigation after two years revealed the presence of metastatic cancer in the gastric bed. An explorative laparotomy was performed, and the surgeons successfully excised the enlarged lymph node. Post-operative pathologic examination proved gastric cancer metastasis. Since April 2007 the patient has stayed recurrence-free, and there have been no signs of recurrence on either US or CT scan, as of April 2018. This patient represents a rare case of long-term survival of recurrent gastric adenocarcinoma successfully treated with surgery despite particularly poor prognosis. Conclusions. Surgery for gastric cancer recurrence is a valuable treatment in chosen patients, provided it is performed by a team of specialised surgeons.