OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinicopathological features and prognostic factors of carcinoma in the remnant stomach (CRS).

METHODSClinicopathological data of 217 consecutive CRS patients from January 2000 to March 2017 at Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University were retrospectively analyzed. CRS was defined as the primary cancer arising from the remnant stomach following gastrectomy, regardless of the initial disease or operation, and at no special time interval. The clinicopathological features and treatment were compared between CRS after benign disease operation (CRS-B) group and CRS after gastric cancer operation (CRS-C) group, and factors influencing prognosis were analyzed using Cox regression model analysis.

RESULTSOf 217 patients, 189 were male and 28 were female with mean age of (60.9±11.2) years. The interval between the first and the second operations was (18.3±15.1) years. The CRS-B group comprised 108 patients and the CRS-C group comprised 109 patients. Compared to CRS-C group, CRS=B group had higher ratio of male [92.6% (100/108) vs. 81.7% (89/109), χ=5.779, P=0.016], longer interval [30(25-40) years vs. 4(1.5-8.0) years, Z=-1.685, P=0.000], longer tumor diameter [(5.9±3.2) cm vs. (3.9±2.4) cm, t=3.390, P=0.000] and later tumor stage [patients in stage I(, II(, III(, and IIII(: 6 (8.0%), 14 (18.7%), 41 (54.7%), and 14 (18.7%) vs. 16 (25.4%), 14 (22.2%), 21(33.3%), and 12(19.0%), respectively, Z=-2.018, P=0.044]. A total of 138 patients underwent surgery, including 118(85.5%) patients of curative resection and 20(14.5%) patients of palliative resection. The other 79 patients did not receive surgery due to extensive metastasis or miscellaneous reasons. Among 138 patients receiving surgery, 3 patients underwent endoscopic resection, 6 patients underwent minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopy or robot), and 129 patients underwent laparotomy. Forty-eight patients underwent surgery involving combined resection. The median postoperative hospital stay was 10(8-14) days. The incidence of postoperative complication was 23.2%(32/138). A total of 91 patients were followed up for 7-120 months, including 51 patients in CRS-B group and 40 in CRS-C group. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates of the 75 patients receiving curative resection were 80.7%, 55.1%, and 41.6%, respectively. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 73.5%, 48.3%, and 29.0% respectively in CRS-B group and 83.1%, 51.2%, and 32.5% respectively in CRS-C group. There was no significant difference between two groups (P=0.527). Multivariate analysis showed that age (RR=1.879, 95%CI: 1.015-3.479, P=0.045), radical procedure (RR=2.956, 95%CI: 1.421-6.150, P=0.004) and TNM stage (RR=1.570, 95%CI: 1.047-2.354, P=0.029) were independent prognostic factors for CRS.

CONCLUSIONSAs compared to the CRS-C group, the CRS-B group has higher percentage of male, longer interval, larger tumor diameter and later TNM stage. Radical resection indicates better prognosis.