[Topographic-anatomical aspects of extensive lymphadenectomy in gastric cancer]

Data on 160 extensive surgical procedures for gastric cancer were analysed. Gastrectomy was performed in 109 cases of whom 12 (11%) died; subtotal resection--in 42 with 2 (4.8%) postoperative deaths whereas proximal resection--in 9 patients (no fatalities). End results were available for 58 cases of whom 29 (50%) survived over three years postsurgery. Radical surgery for locally advanced gastric cancer included removal of the greater and lesser omenta, bursa omentalis and retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Lymphadenectomy was confined to the following five fascial-fatty spaces: hepato-unciform, spleno-unciform, paraaortic, splenic and left reno-aortic.