Primary gastric lymphoma: a clinicopathological study

A retrospective study of 25 patients treated for primary gastric lymphoma was made to investigate a number of problems related to treatments and report the factors influencing prognosis. In the 5-year-survival rate according to Working Formulation classification, either survival rate of low-grade type or intermediate-grade type was higher than that of high-grade type. Both the 5-year-survival rate of cases without lymph node metastasis and that of cases that involved perigastric lymph nodes were higher than that of cases that involved distant gastric lymph nodes. Those surviving five years after perigastric lymph node metastasis had received D3 or D4 dissection and postoperative multicombined chemotherapy. Tumors invading only to the submucosal layer had received D2 dissection and were not treated by postoperative multicombined chemotherapy, and recurrence was not recognized in these cases. Of 9 cases infiltrating into the musclaris propria or serosa without lymph node metastasis, 8 cases were treated by postoperative multicombined chemotherapy and were alive without recurrence, but one case without postoperative multicombined chemotherapy died by recurrence. Therefore, adequate therapy for gastric lymphoma with infiltrating into submucosal layer is gastrectomy with D2 lymph node dissection, and postoperative multicombined chemotherapy is not necessary. The cases with perigastric lymph node metastasis, or the cases with invading from muscularis propria to serosa require D3 or D4 lymph node dissection with postoperative multicombined chemotherapy. But the cases with distant gastric lymph node metastasis or invading adjacent structure or high-grade type histologically (WF classification) require preoperative chemotherapy.