The long-term outcome of atomic bomb survivors with gastric carcinoma

During the decade following the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a high incidence of leukemia was observed among atomic bomb survivors. Subsequently, the incidence of other cancers gradually increased while that of leukemia decreased. We examined the long-term clinical outcome of gastric cancer and second primary cancer in atomic bomb survivors.

Results of surgical treatment of gastric cancer were reviewed in 231 atomic bomb survivors and 759 control patients between 1995 and 2006.

Long-term prognosis of gastric cancer in atomic bomb survivors was significantly poorer than that in control patients (P < 0.05). In a multivariate analysis, age, depth of tumor invasion, lymph node metastases, and curability were found to be significant and independent prognostic factors for gastric cancer. The incidence of second primary cancer after gastric cancer was significantly higher in survivors than in control patients (P < 0.01), because the number of elderly patients in the survivors was higher.

Gastric cancer in survivors had a significantly poorer prognosis. Although the frequency of second primary cancer after gastric cancer in survivors was higher than that in control patients, it did not influence the prognosis.