Extended radical surgery against gastric cancer: low complication and high survival rates

The present study examines survival benefits for 338 gastric cancer patients from radical surgical treatments, including radical lymphadenectomy of group 3 nodes and combined resection of infiltrated adjacent organs. Curative surgery, with no detectable residual tumor, was possible for 236 patients (69.8%). The radical surgical approach was constant in execution, with 330 of the 338 patients (97.6%) being operated upon by the same surgeon. The remaining patients were operated upon in a similarly radical manner which always included a lymphadenectomy of the N-3 region. Anastomotic leakage was observed in seven patients (3.0%). The postoperative mortality rate was 4.8% for total gastrectomy cases and 3.3% for subtotal gastrectomy cases. The actuarial five-year survival rate for patients receiving curative surgery was 50.0%. These low complication and high survival rates support the concept of extended radical surgery for gastric cancer.