OBJECTIVETo analyze the feasibility of No.8p lymphadenectomy for the patients with advanced gastric cancer and to preliminaryly explore its value in improving prognosis.

METHODSClinical data of 1158 patients with advanced gastric cancer undergoing radical gastrectomy plus D2 or above D2 lymphadenectomy (No.8 lymphadenectomy) from July 2003 to July 2013 at Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Fujian Cancer Hospital were collected. A retrospective cohort study was carried out. Among 1158 patients, 343 patients from July 2003 to June 2008 only received No.8a lymph node dissection (No.8a group), and 815 patients from July 2008 to July 2013 received No.8a+No.8p lymph node dissection (No.8a+No.8p group). Patients in No.8a group received the dissection of the lymph nodes in the upper margin of the pancreas and the front of total hepatic artery, and those in No.8a+No.8p group, on the basis of No.8a group, received the dissection of lymph nodes in the common hepatic artery and the left lymph nodes behind the hepatic artery and the portal vein. The metastasis degree and metastasis rate of lymph node(No.8a and No.8p), as well as intraoperative and postoperative presentations in both groups were investigated. The prognosis of two groups were analyzed with Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test.

RESULTSAmong 1158 patients with advanced gastric cancer, 849 were males and 309 were females with aged 17 to 83(58.5 ±11.7) years. Radical distal gastrectomy was performed in 325 cases (28.1%) and radical total gastrectomy in 833 cases(71.9%). All the patients completed operations successfully. A total of 2587 No.8a lymph nodes were removed, and the lymph node metastasis rate and metastasis degree of No.8a were 20.6% (239/1158) and 13.0%(336/2587), respectively. A total of 2170 No.8p lymph nodes were removed, and the lymph node metastasis rate and metastasis degree of No.8p were 10.9%(89/815) and 7.2%(156/2170), respectively. The operation time of the No.8a+No.8p group was longer than that of No.8a group [(180.2±40.3) minutes vs. (168.4±41.8) minutes], and the difference was statistically significant (t=-4.627, P=0.000). However, intraoperative blood loss [(222.8±92.8) ml vs. (215.6±91.1) ml], postoperative 1-day peritoneal drainage volume [(257.7±120.0) ml vs. (270.3±121.0) ml], time to withdraw of gastric tube [(2.1±0.9) days vs. (2.2±0.8) days], time to withdraw of peritoneal tube [(6.8±1.1) days vs. (6.9±1.1) days], time to withdraw of nasal feeding tube[(6.5±1.2) days vs. (6.4±1.1) days], the morbidity of complications [19.8%(68/343) vs. 16.0%(130/815)] and postoperative hospital stay [(8.1±3.0) days vs.(8.3±3.1) days] in No.8a group and No.8a+No.8p group were not significantly different(all P>0.05). The average follow-up period was 41(2 to 144) months. The median postoperative survival was 83.0 months, and the 1-, 2-, and 5-year survival rates were 90.9%, 78.8% and 56.9% in No.8a group respectively. The median survival was 94.8 months, 1-, 2-, and 5-survival rates were 94.9%, 82.3% and 63.0% in No.8a+No.8p group respectively. The survival rate of No.8a+No.8p group was significantly higher than that of No.8a group (P=0.016). The stratified analysis showed that in stage II patients, the survival rate of No.8a+No.8p lymph node dissection was significantly higher than that of only No.8a lymph node dissection(P=0.021), but difference of survival between two groups was not significantly different in stage I patients(P=0.469) and stage III patients (P=0.820).

CONCLUSIONFor the patients with advanced gastric cancer, the dissection of No.8a+No.8p is safe and feasible, and may improve the prognosis, especially for those with stage II, suggesting that No.8a+No.8p lymphadenectomy should be performed for selected patients with advanced gastric cancer.