Prognostic factors for relapse-free 5-year survivors after gastrectomy for gastric cancer

Few studies have examined the prognosis of long-term survivors with gastric cancer (GC) after gastrectomy. This study aimed to identify the prognostic factors for 5-year recurrence-free survivors after gastrectomy for GC.

A total of 721 patients with pathologic stage Ⅰ to Ⅲ GC who underwent gastrectomy between 2005 and 2018 and survived for 5 years without recurrence were enrolled. Conditional overall survival (cOS), conditional disease-specific survival (cDSS), and conditional non-disease-specific survival (cNDSS) of 5-year recurrence-free survivors were calculated. The association between cOS, cDSS, and cNDSS and clinicopathologic factors was evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses.

The mean age of the patients was 70.5 ± 10.1 years, 68.5% of the patients were male, and 491, 128, and 102 had stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ GC, respectively. Of note, 17 patients relapsed, and 65 patients died (disease-specific, non-disease-specific, and unknown: 12, 45, and 6, respectively) during a median follow-up of 36 months. The 5-year cOS, cDSS, and cNDSS rates were 90.3%, 97.3%, and 93.3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that age of ≥80 years and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) of ≥2.7 were significantly associated with poorer cOS. Stage Ⅲ GC was associated with decreased cDSS, and age of ≥80 years, NLR of ≥2.7, and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of ≥93.4 fL were associated with lower cNDSS.

Age of ≥80 years, stage Ⅲ GC, NLR of ≥2.7, and MCV of ≥93.4 fL were unfavorable prognostic factors for 5-year recurrence-free survivors after gastrectomy for GC. Long-term surveillance after gastrectomy could be tailored based on these factors.