Impact of splenectomy on survival following gastrectomy for adenocarcinoma

From 1972 to 1985, 161 palliative and 99 curative gastrectomies were performed, including splenectomy (SPL), in 49 and 42 patients, respectively. The relative contribution of tumor histology and location of primary tumor within the stomach to median survival times in months (MST) was examined by chi-square analysis for patients who had SPL and those who did not. MST for the 40 patients treated by curative gastrectomy and SPL was 33 months compared with 43.5 months in the 56 patients treated by curative gastrectomy without SPL (P = .24). Three postoperative deaths were excluded from this analysis. Neither tumor location nor the histological type had a statistically significant impact on MST within these two groups. SPL was not found to have statistically significant impact on survival following curative gastrectomy. In 46 patients treated by palliative gastrectomy with SPL the MST was 10.5 months compared with 15.5 months in 110 patients who were treated by palliative gastrectomy without SPL (P = .007). Five postoperative deaths and three patients in which primary tumor location could not be accurately determined were excluded from this analysis. The MST of 23 patients treated by SPL who had poor or undifferentiated histology was 8 months, compared with 15 months in 73 patients with similar histology not treated by SPL (P = .02). There was no statistically significant difference in MST between palliative gastrectomy patients who had well or moderately differentiated histology treated with (n = 23) and without (n = 37) SPL (P = .11). The impact of SPL on MST following palliative gastrectomy was not significantly influenced by tumor location in the stomach.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)