Survival following microscopically confirmed radical resection of N0 gastric cancer

In a series of 128 patients operated on for gastric cancer, 27 satisfied microscopic criteria for radical resection. The median age of these patients was 72.3 (range 36-84) years at operation; the median hospital stay after surgery was 12.9 days. The median observation time was 3.8 years and the crude 5-year survival rate 48 per cent. Older patients did remarkably well. No significant difference was found in the number of survivors, survival-observation time or hospital stay in the age groups 55-64, 65-74 or 75-84 years. Thus, age alone should not be considered a barrier to curative surgical treatment. When the study was ended, 12 of the 27 patients who underwent microscopically confirmed radical resection were still alive; six had died from recurrent gastric cancer and nine from other causes. At 5 years after microscopically confirmed radical resection for gastric carcinoma, the gastric cancer-specific mortality rate was 23 per cent.