Surveillance Endoscopy Guidelines for Postgastrectomy Patients Based on Risk of Developing Remnant Gastric Cancer

Remnant gastric cancer (RGC) has a major impact on the long-term survival of postgastrectomy patients. In this study, we established surveillance endoscopy guidelines for postgastrectomy patients based on the risk of RGC.

A total of 6365 patients who underwent gastrectomy at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital from September 2005 to June 2018 were retrospectively reviewed; 85 patients were identified as having RGC. We divided the RGC patients into subgroups according to the interval between primary and secondary gastrectomy.

The curative resection rate was significantly lower in patients with an interval of ≤ 5 years versus > 5 years (p = 0.017). RGC developed more frequently after Billroth II reconstruction, and at the anastomotic site, in patients with a > 10- versus ≤ 10-year interval (p = 0.006 and p = 0.014, respectively). Similar results were observed based on the 15-year interval cutoff (p = 0.001 and 0.018, respectively). The 5-year overall survival rate of patients with a ≤ 5-year interval was significantly lower than that of patients with a > 5-year interval (60.0% versus 85.7%, p = 0.015), while overall survival did not differ between the ≤ 10- and > 10-year, or ≤ 15- and 15-year interval groups. RGC incidence showed a decrease after around 20 years postoperatively.

Thorough endoscopic examination should be conducted for up to 5 years postgastrectomy. Routine annual endoscopic follow-up should be performed for up to 20 years after the primary operation for gastric cancer, to allow for early detection of RGC.