Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate clinical features, prognostic factors, and overall survival (OS) in surgical patients with gastric remnant cancer (GRC).
Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients with gastrectomy for pT1-4 gastric cancer between October 1972 and February 2014 at our institution was performed. Clinical characteristics were compared between patients with GRC and those with primary gastric cancer (PGC). Multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to determine the prognostic factors for OS in patients with GRC. A propensity score-matched cohort was used to investigate OS between the GRC and PGC groups.
Results: Of a baseline cohort of 1440 patients, 95 patients with GRC were identified. Patients with GRC underwent more multivisceral resections (p < 0.001) than patients with PGC despite lower tumor stages (p = 0.018); however, R0 resection rates were not significantly different (p = 0.211). The postoperative overall (p = 0.032) and major surgical (p = 0.021) complication rates and the 30-day (p = 0.003) and in-hospital (p = 0.008) mortality rates were higher in patients with GRC. In multivariable analysis, the only prognostic factors for worse OS in GRC were higher tumor stage (p < 0.001) and the occurrence of postoperative complications (p < 0.001). OS between propensity score-matched GRC and PGC groups was not significantly different (p = 0.772).
Conclusions: GRC required more invasive surgery than PGC; however, the feasibility of R0 resection was similar. The prognostic factors of GRC were similar to those of PGC, and OS was not significantly different between both groups. Patients with GRC benefit from extensive surgery when performed with low morbidity and mortality.