Recent advances in conversion therapy schemes for stage Ⅳ gastric cancer

“Conversion therapy”is a treatment modality that involves the use of radiotherapy,chemotherapy,targeted therapy,immunotherapy,and other therapeutic methods to transform initially late-stage tumors that cannot be cured into treatments that can achieve an R0 curative effect.However,selecting an appropriate conversion therapy scheme remains a challenge,and there are currently few relevant studies on this topic.This article reviews successful cases of conversion therapy and clinical studies on treatment schemes,at domestic and international levels,over the past few years to offer a broad range of treatment options for patients.

Prognostic factors in stage IB gastric cancer

AIM:To identify the subset of patients with stage IB gastric cancer with an unfavorable prognosis.METHODS:Overall survival(OS)rates were examined in 103 patients with stage IB(T1N1M0 and T2N0M0)gastric cancer between January 2000 and December2011.Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors using a Cox proportional hazards model.RESULTS:The OS rates of patients with T1N1 and T2N0 cancer were 89.2%and 94.1%at 5-years,re-spectively.Both univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that tumor location was the only significant prognostic factor.The OS rate was 81.8%at5-years when the tumor was located in the upper third of the stomach and was 95.5%at 5-years when the tumor was located in the middle or lower third of the stomach(P=0.0093).CONCLUSION:These data may suggest that tumor location is associated with survival in patients with stage IB gastric cancer.

Prediction of lymph node metastasis and sentinel node navigation surgery for patients with early-stage gastric cancer

Accurate prediction of lymph node(LN) status is crucially important for appropriate treatment planning in patients with early gastric cancer(EGC). However,consensus on patient and tumor characteristics associated with LN metastasis are yet to be reached. Through systematic search,we identified several independent variables associated with LN metastasis in EGC,which should be included in future research to assess which of these variables remain as significant predictors of LN metastasis. On the other hand,even if we use these promising parameters,we should realize the limitation and the difficulty of predicting LN metastasis accurately. The sentinel LN(SLN) is defined as first possible site to receive cancer cells along the route of lymphatic drainage from the primary tumor. The absence of metastasis in SLN is believed to correlate with the absence of metastasis in downstream LNs. In this review,we have attempted to focus on several independent parameters which have close relationship between tumor and LN metastasis in EGC. In addition,we evaluated the history of sentinel node navigation surgery and the usefulness for EGC.

Progress of Imaging Histology in the Diagnosis and TNM Staging of Gastric Cancer

Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumours with complex dynamic heterogeneity and aggressiveness, and the information that can be evaluated by traditional imaging is limited and subjective. With the development of machine learning, radiomics can combine medical imaging with genomics and proteomics to discover latent information, a feature that makes it a beneficial aid to assist physicians in clinical decision making and is used in all areas of gastric cancer diagnosis and treatment. In this paper, we describe the workflow of radiomics and the research progress in gastric cancer diagnosis.

Macroscopic appearance of TypeⅣand giant Type Ⅲ is a high risk for a poor prognosis in pathological stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ advanced gastric cancer with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy

AIM To evaluate whether a high risk macroscopic appearance(Type Ⅳ and giant Type Ⅲ) is associated with a dismal prognosis after curative surgery, because its prognostic relevance remains elusive in pathological stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ(p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ) gastric cancer.METHODS One hundred and seventy-two advanced gastric cancer(defined as pT2 or beyond) patients with p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ who underwent curative surgery plus adjuvant S1 chemotherapy were evaluated, and the prognostic relevance of a high-risk macroscopic appearance was examined. RESULTS Advanced gastric cancers with a high-risk macroscopic appearance were retrospectively identified by preoperative recorded images. A high-risk macroscopic appearance showed a significantly worse relapse free survival(RFS)(35.7%) and overall survival(OS)(34%) than an average risk appearance(P = 0.0003 and P < 0.0001, respectively). A high-risk macroscopic appearance was significantly associated with the 13^(th) Japanese Gastric Cancer Association(JGCA) pT(P = 0.01), but not with the 13^(th) JGCA pN. On univariate analysis for RFS and OS, prognostic factors included 13^(th) JGCA p Stage(P < 0.0001)and other clinicopathological factors including macroscopic appearance. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model for univariate prognostic factors identified highrisk macroscopic appearance(P = 0.036, HR = 2.29 for RFS and P = 0.021, HR = 2.74 for OS) as an independent prognostic indicator. CONCLUSION A high-risk macroscopic appearance was associated with a poor prognosis, and it could be a prognostic factor independent of 13^(th) JGCA stage in p Stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ advanced gastric cancer.

Staging laparoscopy improves treatment decision-makingfor advanced gastric cancer

AIM To evaluate the clinical value of staging laparoscopyin treatment decision-making for advancedgastric cancer （GC）.METHODS： Clinical data of 582 patients with advancedGC were retrospectively analyzed. All patientsunderwent staging laparoscopy. The strength ofagreement between computed tomography （CT） stage,endoscopic ultrasound （EUS） stage, laparoscopic stage,and final stage were determined by weighted Kappastatistic （Kw）. The number of patients with treatmentdecision-changes was counted. A χ 2 test was used toanalyze the correlation between peritoneal metastasisor positive cytology and clinical characteristics.RESULTS： Among the 582 patients, the distributions ofpathological T classifications were T2/3 （153, 26.3%）,T4a （262, 45.0%）, and T4b （167, 28.7%）. Treatmentplans for 211 （36.3%） patients were changed after staging laparoscopy was performed. Two （10.5%） of19 patients in M1 regained the opportunity for potentialradical resection by staging laparoscopy. Unnecessarylaparotomy was avoided in 71 （12.2%） patients. Thestrength of agreement between preoperative T stageand final T stage was in almost perfect agreement （Kw= 0.838; 95% confidence interval （CI）： 0.803-0.872;P 〈 0.05） for staging laparoscopy; compared with CTand EUS, which was in fair agreement. The strengthof agreement between preoperative M stage andfinal M stage was in almost perfect agreement （Kw= 0.990; 95% CI： 0.977-1.000; P 〈 0.05） for staginglaparoscopy; compared with CT, which was in slightagreement. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumorsize （≥ 40 mm）, depth of tumor invasion （T4b）, andBorrmann type （Ⅲ or Ⅳ） were significantly correlatedwith either peritoneal metastasis or positive cytology.The best performance in diagnosing P-positive wasobtained when two or three risk factors existed.CONCLUSION： Staging laparoscopy can improvetreatment decision-making for advanced GC anddecrease unnecessary exploratory laparotomy.

New approaches to gastric cancer staging:Beyond endoscopic ultrasound,computed tomography and positron emission tomography

Currently, there is no single gold standard modality for staging of gastric cancer and several methods have been used complementarily in the each clinical situation. To make up for the shortcomings of conventional modalities such as endoscopic ultrasound, computed tomography and 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography, numerous attempts with new approaches have been made for gastric cancer staging. For T staging, magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band was evaluated to differentiate mucosal cancer from submucosal cancer. Single/double contrast-enhanced ultrasound and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging were also tried to improve diagnostic accuracy of gastric cancer. For intraoperative staging with sentinel node mapping, indocyanine green infrared and fluorescence imaging was introduced. In addition, to detect micrometastasis, real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction system with multiple markers was studied. Staging laparoscopy using 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic diagnosis and percutaneous diagnostic peritoneal lavage were also evaluated. However, most studies reporting new staging methods is preliminary and further studies for validation in clinical practice are needed. In this mini-review, we discuss new progress in gastric cancer staging. Especially, we focus on new diagnostic approach to gastric cancer staging beyond the conventional modalities and briefly review the remarkable clinical results of the studies published over the past three years.

Feasibility of differentiating T3 from T4a gastric cancer in different Lauren classification by determining serosa invasion：Diagnostic performance of high enhanced serosa sign

Objective： To study the value of high enhanced serosa sign on contrast-enhanced computed tomography（CT）in differentiating T3 from T4a gastric cancer in different Lauren classification.Methods： This study included 276 consecutive patients with surgically confirmed p T3 or p T4a gastric cancers.The pre-operative CT images were reviewed by two radiologists blinded. The demonstration of the high enhanced serosa on CT between T3 and T4a was compared with chi-square test. The diagnostic performance of this sign on CT in the differentiation of T4a from T3 in different Lauren classification was calculated.Results： The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value（PPV） and negative predictive value（NPV） for the judgement of serosa invasion using the high enhanced serosa sign on CT was 74.6%, 63.7%, 83.6%,76.0% and 73.8% by one radiologist and 76.4%, 66.1%, 84.9%, 78.1% and 75.4% by the other radiologist.Compared to the intestinal-type, the sensitivity of the judgement of serosa invasion using the high enhanced serosa sign on CT in diffuse-type was significant higher（80% in both readers）, while the specificity trended to be lower（65.9% and 80.5%, respectively）. There is no significant difference in the accuracy of diagnosis between intestinaltype and diffuse-type of gastric cancers（the P-values of two radiologists were 0.968, 0.591, respectively）. The combination of the high enhanced serosa sign with conventional CT signs is significant different in diagnosis of T3 and T4a（P〈0.001）. The diagnostic accuracy was increased in both radiologists after the combination. The two readers achieved substantial agreement, with Kappa coefficient of 0.63, P〈0.001.Conclusions： The high enhanced serosa sign on CT is associated with serosa involvement. The sensitivity of the judgement of serosa invasion using this sign on CT in diffuse-type was significant higher than that in intestinal-type.

seventh tumor-node-metastasis staging of gastric cancer: Five-year follow-up

Seventh tumor-node-metastasis(TNM) classification for gastric cancer,published in 2010,introduced changes in all of its three parameters with the aim to increase its accuracy in prognostication. The aim of this review is to analyze the efficacy of these changes and their implication in clinical practice. We reviewed relevant Literature concerning staging systems in gastric cancer from 2010 up to March 2016. Adenocarcinoma of the esophago-gastric junction still remains a debated entity,due to its peculiar anatomical and histological situation: further improvement in its staging are required. Concerning distant metastases,positive peritoneal cytology has been adopted as a criterion to define metastatic disease: however,its search in clinical practice is still far from being routinely performed,as staging laparoscopy has not yet reached wide diffusion. Regarding definition of T and N: in the era of multimodal treatment these parameters should more influence both staging and surgery. The changes about T-staging suggested some modifications in clinical practice. Differently,many controversies on lymph node staging are still ongoing,with the proposal of alternative classification systems in order to minimize the extent of lymphadenectomy. The next TNM classification should take into account all of these aspects to improve its accuracy and the comparability of prognosis in patients from both Eastern and Western world.

Conversion surgery for gastric cancer patients:A review

Gastric cancer(GC) is the third most common cancer-related cause of death worldwide. In locally advanced tumors, neoadjuvant chemotherapy has recently been introduced in most international Western guidelines. For metastatic and unresectable disease, there is still debate regarding correct management and the role of surgery. The standard approach for stage IV GC is palliative chemotherapy. Over the last decade, an increasing number of M1 patients who responded to palliative regimens of induction chemotherapy have been subsequently undergone surgery with curative intent. The objective of the present review is to analyze the literature regarding this approach, known as "conversion surgery", which has become one of the most commonly adopted therapeutic options. It is defined as a treat-ment aiming at an R0 resection after chemotherapy in initially unresectable tumors. The 13 retrospective studies analyzed, with a total of 411 patients treated with conversion therapy, clearly show that even if standardization of unresectable and metastatic criteria, post-chemotherapy resectability evaluation and timing of surgery has not yet been established, an R0 surgery after induction chemotherapy with partial or complete response seems to offer superior survival results than chemotherapy alone. Additional larger sample-size randomized control trials are needed to identify subgroups of well-stratified patients who could benefit from this multimodal approach.

Apparent diffusion coefficient by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging as a sole biomarker for staging and prognosis of gastric cancer

Objective： To investigate the role of apparent diffusion coefficient （ADC） from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging （DW-MRI） when applied to the 7th TNM classification in the staging and prognosis of gastric cancer （GC）. Methods： Between October 2009 and May 2014, a total of 89 patients with non-metastatic, biopsy proven GC underwent 1.5T DW-MRI, and then treated with radical surgery. Tumor ADC was measured retrospectively and compared with final histology following the 7th TNM staging （local invasion, nodal involvement and according to the different groups -- stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ）. Kaplan-Meier curves were also generated. The follow-up period is updated to May 2016. Results： Median follow-up period was 33 months and 45/89 （51%） deaths from GC were observed. ADC was significantly different both for local invasion and nodal involvement （P〈0.001）. Considering final histology as the reference standard, a preoperative ADC cut-offof 1.80×10-3 mm^2/s could distinguish between stages I and Ⅱ and an ADC value of ≤1.36-10-3 mm^2/s was associated with stage Ⅲ（P〈0.001）. Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated that the survival rates for the three prognostic groups were significantly different according to final histology and ADC cut-offs （P〈0.001）. Conclusions： ADC is different according to local invasion, nodal involvement and the 7th TNM stage groups for GC, representing a potential, additional prognostic biomarker. The addition of DW-MRI could aid in the staging and risk stratification of GC.

Expression and clinical significance of serum lipoprotein(a) in patients with gastric cancer

Objective This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance of serum lipoprotein(a) [LP(a)] in patients with gastric cancer. Methods Two hundred and twenty-two patients with gastric cancer(gastric cancer group) were selected from 2015 to 2017 [mean age(58.40 ± 10.40) years], as were 101 healthy persons [normal age group, mean age(58.18 ± 11.42) years]. Fasting blood samples were collected and evaluated by immunoturbidimetry with a biochemical analyzer. LP(a) concentration was observed and its difference was compared. Results There was no significant correlation between LP(a) and tumor stage(P > 0.05). Compared with the control group, the level of LP(a) in the male gastric cancer group was significantly higher than that in the control group(P < 0.05). In the subgroup analysis, the level of LP(a) and abnormal rate showed an increasing trend among patients with stages I–IV gastric cancer. The level of LP(a) in poorly differentiated gastric cancer patients was higher than that in the high middle differentiation group(P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in LP(a) levels among patients with different pathological types of gastric cancer(P > 0.05). Conclusion LP(a) was correlated with the occurrence, development and differentiation of gastric cancer, but not with the pathological classification of gastric cancer. Serum LP(a) concentration may be used as an indicator for the staging and prognosis of gastric cancer, but the specific underlying mechanism remains to be further studied.

Multiple Detector-Row CT in Gastric Cancer Staging: Prospective Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of multiple detector computed tomography (MDCT) in the preoperative staging of gastric cancer, prospectively comparing CT findings with pathological findings at surgery, in a single-center study. A total of 19 consecutive patients with primary cancer recruited between March and July 2014 were submitted to preoperative MDCT staging according to a standard protocol. All diagnostic procedures were performed by dedicated radiologists who were unaware of the final pathological results. Subsequently, 16 patients underwent surgical treatment and 15 were finally included in the study. The primary tumor was detected at CT in all 15 cases. CT results for T staging were in agreement with pathological findings in 12 of 15 cases, with overall accuracy of 80%. Stage-specific sensibility was high for advanced stages (sensibility for T1, T3, and T4 resulted 60%, 85.7%, and 100%, respectively), while earlier stages showed higher specificity (specificity for T1, T3, and T4 resulted 100%, 75%, and 91.7%, respectively). Overall N staging accuracy was 86.7%, with 13 of 15 patients correctly staged. Stage-specific sensibility was 75% for N0 and 100% for N3, while specificity was 100% for N0 and lower for advanced stages. Accuracy for peritoneal involvement was 100%. Our findings show a good performance of the diagnostic protocol performed with MDCT tested in this study.

Clinicopathologic and molecular features associated with patient age in gastric cancer

AIM: To compare characteristics and prognosis of gastric cancer based on age.METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on clinical and molecular data from patients(n =1658) with confirmed cases of gastric cancer in Seoul National University Bundang Hospital(Seoul, South Korea) from 2003 to 2010 after exclusion of patients diagnosed with lymphoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, and metastatic cancer in the stomach. DNA was isolated from tumor and adjacent normal tissue,and a set of five markers was amplified by polymerase chain reaction to assess microsatellite instability(MSI). MSI was categorized as high, low, or stable if ≥ 2, 1, or 0 markers, respectively, had changed.Immunohistochemistry was performed on tissue sections to detect levels of expression of p53, human epidermal growth factor receptor(HER)-2, and epidermal growth factor receptor. Statistical analysis of clinical and molecular data was performed to assess prognosis based on the stratification of patients by age(≤ 45 and> 45 years).RESULTS: Among the 1658 gastric cancer patients, the number of patients with an age ≤ 45 years was 202(12.2%; 38.9 ± 0.4 years) and the number of patients> 45 years was 1456(87.8%; 64.1 ± 0.3 years).Analyses revealed that females were predominant inthe younger group(P < 0.001). Gastric cancers in the younger patients exhibited more aggressive features and were at a more advanced stage than those in older patients. Precancerous lesions, such as atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia, were observed less frequently in the older than in the younger group(P < 0.001). Molecular characteristics, including overexpression of p53(P < 0.001), overexpression of HER-2(P = 0.006), and MSI(P = 0.006), were less frequent in gastric cancer of younger patients. Cancer related mortality was higher in younger patients(P= 0.048), but this difference was not significant after adjusting for the stage of cancer.CONCLUSION: Gastric cancer is distinguishable between younger and older patients based on both clinicopathologic and molecular features, but stage is the most important predictor of prognosis.

Sixth and seventh tumor-node-metastasis staging system compared in gastric cancer patients

AIM: To investigate the clinical relevance and prognosis regarding survival according to the changes of the tumor-node-metastasis(TNM) in gastric cancer patients. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 347 consecutive subjects who underwent surgery for gastric adenocarcinoma at the Division of General Surgery, Hospital of Busto Arsizio, Busto Arsizio, Italy between June 1998 and December 2009. Patients who underwent surgery without curative intent, patients with tumors of the gastric stump and patients with tumors involving the esophagus were excluded for survival analysis. Patients were staged according to the 6thand 7thedition TNM criteria; 5-year overall survival rates were investigated, and the event was defined as death from any cause. RESULTS: After exclusion, our study population included 241 resected patients with curative intent for gastric adenocarcinoma. The 5-year overall survival(5-year OS) rate of all the patients was 52.8%. Thediagnosed stage differed in 32% of 241 patients based on the TNM edition used for the diagnosis. The patients in stage Ⅱ according to the 6thedition who were reclassified as stage Ⅲ had significantly worse prognosis than patients classified as stage Ⅱ(5-year OS, 39% vs 71%). According to the 6thedition, 135 patients were classifed as T2, and 75% of these patients migrated to T3 and exhibited a significantly worse prognosis than those who remained T2, regardless of lymph node involvement(37% vs 71%). The new N1 patients exhibited a better prognosis than the previous N1 patients(67% vs 43%). CONCLUSION: 7thTNM allows new T2 and N1 patients to be selected with better prognosis, which leads to different staging. New stratification is important in multimodal therapy.

Comparison of different lymph node staging systems in prognosis of gastric cancer:a bi-institutional study from Hungary

Objective： The Union for International Cancer Control （UICC） Node （N） classification is the most common used staging method for the prognosis of gastric cancer. It demands adequate, at least 16 lymph nodes （LNs） to be dissected; therefore different staging systems were invented. Methods： Between March 2005 and March 2010, 164 patients were evaluated at the Department of General Surgery in the Ken^zy Gyula Hospital and at the Department of General, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery in the Kaposi M6r Hospital. The 6th, 7th and 8th UICC N-staging systems, the number of examined LNs, the number of harvested negative LNs, the metastatic lymph node ratio （MLR） and the log odds of positive LNs （LODDS） were determined to measure their 5-year survival rates and to compare them to each other. Results： The overall 5year survival rate for all patients was 55.5% with a median overall survival time of 102 months. The tumor stage, gender, UICC N-stages, MLR and the LODDS were significant prognostic factors for the 5-year survival with univariate analysis. The 6th UICC N-stage did not follow the adequate risk in comparing N2 vs. NO and N3 vs. NO with multivariate investigation. Comparison of performances of the residual N classifications proved that the LODDS system was first in the prediction of prognosis during the evaluation of all patients and in cases with less than 16 harvested LNs. The MLR gave the best prognostic prediction when adequate （more than or equal to 16） lymphadenectomy was performed. Conclusions： We suggest the application of LODDS system routinely in western patients and the usage of MLR classification in cases with extended lymphadenectomy.

Comparison of Different Methods of Multislice Spiral Computed Tomography for the Preoperative Gastric Cancer Staging

Background: To evaluate the diagnostic possibilities of multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) in preoperative gastric cancer staging. Methods: A total of 108 patients who had radical gastric cancer surgery were evaluated with MSCT two weeks before surgery in two different stomach imaging methods (water or urographin aqueous solution). Tumor staging was evaluated using the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging. The results from the imaging modalities were compared with the postoperative histopathological outcomes. Results: CT scanning with stomach contrast agent is more accurate (p < 0.05) and specific (p = 0.001) in determining stage T2;however hydrodynamic method is more sensitive (p < 0.005) and has higher PPV (p < 0.005). For stage T3, there was no significant difference between accuracy, positive and negative prognostic values;scanning with stomach contrast was more sensitive (p = 0.016), and hydrodynamic method was more specific (p = 0.026). For stage T4, hydrodynamic method was more sensitive (p = 0.028), but there was no significant difference between accuracy, specificity, positive and negative prognostic values. Conclusions: According to our study results, CT scanning with contrast agent is more accurate and specific in preoperative determination of gastric cancer T2 stage;however hydrodynamic method is more sensitive in preoperative T3 stage determination. We find no significant difference between positive and negative prognostic values of these methods. Scanning with contrast agent was more sensitive, and hydrodynamic method was more specific. Hydrodynamic method is more sensitive in determining gastric cancer T4 stage. CT scan is informative in preoperative gastric cancer M staging;however it is not informative enough for preoperative N staging.

Assessment of vascular invasion in gastric cancer: A comparative study

AIM: To evaluate and compare detection of lymphatic and blood vessel invasion (LVI and BVI) by hematox-ylin-eosin (HE) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in gastric cancer specimens, and to correlate with lymph node status. METHODS: IHC using D2-40 (a lymphatic endothelial marker) and CD34 (a pan-endothelial marker) was performed to study LVI and BVI in surgical specimens froma consecutive series of 95 primary gastric cancer cases. The results of the IHC study were compared with the detection by HE using McNemar test and kappa index. The morphologic features of the tumors and the presence of LVI and BVI were related to the presence of lymph node metastasis. A χ2 test was performed to obtain associations between LVI and BVI and other prognostic factors for gastric cancer. RESULTS: The detection rate of LVI was considerably higher than that of BVI. The IHC study identified eight false-positive cases and 13 false-negative cases for LVI, and 24 false-positive cases and 10 false-negative cases for BVI. The average Kappa value determined was moderate for LVI (k=0.50) and low for BVI (k=0.20). Both LVI and BVI were statistically associated with the presence of lymph node metastasis (HE: P=0.001, P=0.013, and IHC: P=0.001, P=0.019). The mor-phologic features associated with LVI were location of the tumor in the distal third of the stomach (P=0.039), Borrmann's macroscopic type (P=0.001), organ inva-sion (P=0.03) and the depth of tumor invasion (P=0.001). The presence of BVI was related only to the depth of tumor invasion (P=0.003). CONCLUSION: The immunohistochemical identification of lymphatic and blood vessels is useful for increasing the accuracy of the diagnosis of vessel invasion and for predicting lymph node metastasis.

Long-term outcomes after radical gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients with overt bleeding

AIM: To investigate the difference in long-term outcomes between gastric cancer patients with and without a primary symptom of overt bleeding(OB).METHODS: Consecutive patients between January 1, 2007 and March 1, 2012 were identified retrospectively by reviewing a gastric cancer database at Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. A follow-up examination was performed on patients who underwent a radical gastrectomy. OB due to gastric cancer included hematemesis, melena or hematochezia, and gastric cancer was confirmed as the source of bleeding by endoscopy. Patients without OB were defined as cases with occult bleeding and those with other initial presentations, including epigastric pain, weakness, weight loss and obstruction. The 3-year overall survival(OS) rate, age, gender, AJCC T stage, AJCC N stage, overall AJCC stage, tumor size, histological type, macroscopic(Borrmann) type, lymphovascular invasion and R status were compared between patients with and without OB. Moreover, we carried out a subgroup analysis based on tumor location(upper, middle and lower).RESULTS: We identified 939 patients. Of these, 695(74.0%) were hospitalized for potential radical gastrectomy and another 244 received palliative resection, rerouting of the gastrointestinal tract, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or no treatment due to the presence of unresectable tumors. Notably, there was no significant difference in the percentage of OB patients between resectable cases and unresectable cases(20.3 % vs 22.1 %, P = 0.541). Fo l l o w- u p examination was performed on 653 patients(94%) who underwent radical gastrectomy. We found no significant difference in 3-year OS rate(68.2% vs 61.2%, P = 0.143) or clinicopathological characteristics(P > 0.05) between these patients with and without OB. Subgroup analysis based on tumor location showed that the 3-year OS rate of upper gastric cancer was significantly higher in patients with OB(84.6%) than in those without OB(48.1%, P < 0.01) and that AJCC stagesⅠ-Ⅱ(56.4% vs 35.1%, P = 0.017) and T1-T2 category tumors(30.8% vs 13%, P = 0.010) were more frequent in patients with OB than in those without OB. There was no significant difference in 3-year OS rate or clinicopathological characteristics between patients with and without OB(P > 0.05) for middle or lower gastric cancer.CONCLUSION: Upper gastric cancer patients with OB exhibited tumors at less advanced pathological stages and had a better prognosis than upper gastric cancer patients without OB.

In advanced gastric cancer:Prognosis and treatment of patients with positive peritoneal cytology

Positive peritoneal cytology in gastric cancer is classified as M1 disease by the 7thEdition of American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system.With the introduction of laparoscopy and peritoneal washing cytology in the staging of gastric cancer a new category of patients has been identified.These are patients with no macroscopic peritoneal metastases but with peritoneal cytology positive(P0C1).Prognosis and treatment of such patientsrepresent a controversial issue.We evaluate the state of the art of staging system in gastric cancer and discusss tandardisation in staging and treatment procedures.There is still a lack of uniformity in the use of laparoscopy with peritoneal cytology in clinical decision making and in the surgical treatment for gastric cancer.Survival of this patient subset remains poor.Multimodal therapies and new therapeutic strategies are required to improve the survival of these patients.