Trend in gastric cancer:35 years of surgical experience in Japan

AIM:To investigate the trend in gastric cancer surgery in the context of rapid therapeutic advancement in Japan and East Asia.METHODS:A retrospective analysis was performed on 4163 patients who underwent gastric resection for gastric cancer with histological confirmation between 1971 and 2007 at the surgical unit in Kitasato University Hospital,to determine the trend in gastric cancer requiring surgery.RESULTS:Gastric cancer requiring surgical resection increased in our hospital,but the incidence adjusted for population was constant during the observed pe-riod.Interestingly,the ratio of diffuse type/intestinal type gastric cancer was unexpectedly unchanged,and that of advanced/early gastric cancer(EGC)was,however,markedly reduced,while the actual incidence of potentially curative advanced gastric cancer tended to decrease.The incidence of EGC requiring surgery tended to increase as a whole,which is consistent with increased prevalence of endoscopic surveillance.As a result,overall survival and mortality of gastric cancer requiring gastric resection has recently markedly improved.CONCLUSION:In Japan,planned interventions may improve surgical gastric cancer mortality,but an unexpected trend of persistent existence of intestinal type cancer suggests the need for more robust medical intervention.

Positron emission tomography complete metabolic response as a favorable prog-nostic predictor in esophageal cancer following neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel/cis-platin/5-fluorouracil

BACKGROUND 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography(PET)/computed tomography is useful in diagnosing lymph node and distant metastases of esophageal cancer.However,its value for predicting survival is controversial.AIM To evaluate the value of PET complete metabolic response(CMR)as a prognostic predictor for esophageal cancer.METHODS Between June 2013 and December 2017,58 patients with squamous cell esophageal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NAC)in Oita University were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study.Tumors were clinically staged using fluorodeoxyglucose-PET/computed tomography before and after NAC.After NAC,maximal standardized uptake value≤2.5 was defined as PET-CMR,and maximal standardized uptake value>2.5 was defined as non-PET-CMR.We compared short-term outcomes between the PET-CMR group and non-PET-CMR group and evaluated prognostic factors by univariate and multivariate analyses.RESULTS The PET-CMR group included 22 patients,and the non-PET-CMR group included 36 patients.There were no significant differences in intraoperative and post operative complications between the two groups.Five-year relapse-free survival and overall survival in the PET-CMR group were significantly more favorable than those in the non-PET-CMR group(38.6 mo vs 20.8 mo,P=0.021;42.8 mo vs 25.1 mo,P=0.011,respectively).PET-CMR was a significant prognostic factor in terms of relapse-free survival by univariate analysis(hazard ratio:2.523;95%confidence interval:1.034–7.063;P<0.041).Particularly,PET-computed tomography negative N was an independent prognostic factor of relapse-free survival and overall survival by multivariate analysis.CONCLUSION PET-CMR after NAC is considered a favorable prognostic factor for esophageal cancer.Evaluation by PET-computed tomography could be useful in clinical decision making for esophageal cancer.