[Treatment of gastric cancer]

Gastric cancer (GC) still remains a major cancer problem in the world. Its prognosis is poor with an overall 5-year survival rate less than 20%. Surgical resection is still the only curative treatment of GC. Curative resection depends on tumoral location and extension, particularly lymph node involvement. Proximal GC (fundus, body) are treated by total gastrectomy (TG). For distal GC (antrum, pylorus), the TG is no more the recommended treatment and distal sub-total gastrectomy can safely be performed when carcinologic rules are respected: 5-6 cm free margin for the remnant stomach and at least 2 cm resection of the proximal duodenum. Cardia cancers, upon to their tumoral extension toward the esophagus, can require either TG or proximal esophagogastrectomy by combined thoracic and abdominal approach. As demonstrated in the last controlled studies, D2 extensive lymphadenectomy, in spite of its contribution to a better prognostic staging, does not improve long term survival after curative surgery. TG extended to the spleen or to the pancreas should not be performed in curative surgery because of a high rate of postoperative complications. Limited gastric resections for superficial GC have to be evaluated in Western countries. Palliative exploratory laparotomies should be avoided by better preoperative explorations. Laparoscopic staging in GC could be indicated when palliative resection or bypass are possible. The results of adjuvant chemotherapy is still disappointing and new protocols have to be evaluated. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy with or without hyperthermia represents a serious hope in the treatment of GC, but its significative action on the survival is not well demonstrated, while its morbidity and mortality rate is high.