[Patient survival rate in inoperable stomach cancer]

An analysis of the survival in 361 patients is reported. The kinetics of the survival in these cases is described by an equation of log-normal distribution and quantified by the time of 50% survival. For patients subjected to tentative laparotomy (TL) this time is 4.5 months, for those subjected to gastroenterostomy (GES) -- 6.5 months (the differences being reliable). Patients subjected to TL showed a reliably more frequent combination of such unfavourable prognostic factors as endophytic growth and a large size tumor, proliferation and metastases in the liver and pancreas. Among the patients who were not operated upon, the most low survival rate was noted in cases when surgery was rejected due to evident inoperability. The survival among the subjects inoperated because of general contraindications or patients' refusal is found to be reliably better than in those subjected to TL. It is suggested to ascertain the effect of chemotherapy in inoperable gastric cancer separately in patients subjected to TK, gastroenterostomy and in those without the operation.