OBJECTIVETo discuss the clinical characteristics of remnant gastric cancer (RGC).

METHODSClinical data of 163 patients with RGC admitted to our department from January 2005 to January 2015 were collected and reviewed.

RESULTSThe time duration of all the RGC patients between primary gastrectomy and occurrence of RGC ranged from 9 to 46 years (median 27.5 years). Among 163 patients, 112(68.7%) patients manifested as discomfort in the upper abdominal region, 47(28.8%) patients had hematemesis and melena, 38(23.3%) had vomiting, 17(10.4%) had swallowing difficulty and 12 (7.4%) had decreased weights. In pathology, 127 (77.9%) cases were median or low grade adenocarcinoma; 114(69.8%) patients were Borrmann type III( gastric cancer under endoscope; 145 (88.9%) patients were TNM III(-IIII( gastric cancer. A total of 106 patients underwent operation, including 75(70.8%) patients of radical resection and 31(29.3%) patients of palliative resection. Patients mainly received Billroth II( anastomosis (77.4%) as digestive tract reconstruction, while 57 cases did not receive surgical operation. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates of the patients were 76.1%, 43.4%, 25.8% respectively. The median survival time of patients receiving radical resection and those receiving palliative resection was 34.6 months and 16.4 months respectively, whereas patients who did not receive surgical operation died 3-8 months after initial diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONSRegular gastroscopy is necessary for patients undergoing gastrectomy for over 10 years. Radical resection is of great importance in the treatment of remnant gastric cancer.