Background: The prognosis of gastric remnant cancer is considered to be poor compared with that of primary cancer.
Materials and methods: This study was conducted to elucidate the differences of clinicopathologic findings and treatment results between 59 patients with gastric remnant cancer (GRC) and 579 patients with primary proximal gastric cancer (PGC).
Results: There was no significant difference in the incidence of lymph node metastasis between GRC and PGC. However, changes in the metastatic pattern to lymph nodes were observed in GRC. In GRC, the tumor easily invaded the neighboring organs due to the adhesions around the remnant stomach, resulting in a low resectability with curative intent. The 5-year survival rate after curative resection for advanced GRC was 50.9%. GRC patients without serosal invasion had a good prognosis.
Conclusion: Although the survival rate after curative resection for GRC patients was similar to that of PGC, GRC patients without serosal invasion had a better prognosis. Therefore, early detection is an important way to improve overall survival in GRC.