Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant gastrointestinal tumors.Docetaxel alone or combination with other drugs can attenuate the progress of disease,prolong the overall response rate and the median overall survival rate in advanced gastric cancer.However,the incidence of toxicities is high.Moreover,there is no uniform standard for dosage and course for docetaxel treatment.Currently,its efficacy is not definite.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the prognosis and surgical method for diffuse-type advanced gastric cancer (AGC).
 METHODS: The clinicopathological data of patient, who underwent curative gastrectomy in the Second Hospital Affiliated to Lanzhou University from 2005 to 2010, were analyzed retrospectively. The prognostic factors of diffuse-type AGC were analyzed by Cox regression models. The patients were divided into a total gastrectomy group (n=120) and a subtotal gastrectomy group (n=167) according to the surgical approach. Survival rates were established by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared by the Log-rank test between the total gastrectomy group and the subtotal gastrectomy group.
 RESULTS: A total of 287 patients with diffuse-type AGC were enrolled in this study, including 120 patients in the total gastrectomy group and 167 patients in the subtotal gastrectomy group. Univariate analysis showed that the prognosis of diffuse-type AGC was associated with body mass index, number of retrieved lymph nodes, Borrmann type, tumor size, T stage, N stage, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, extent of resection, surgical margin, postoperative complication, perineural and vascular invasion (all P<0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that normal body mass index, tumor size, T stage, N stage, total gastrectomy, surgical margin, postoperative complication were the independent predictors for diffuse-type AGC (all P<0.05). The 5-year overall survival rate and progression-free survival rate for diffuse-type AGC after curative gastrectomy were 17.8% and 13.6%, respectively. The median survival time and progression-free survival of them were 22 and 18 months, respectively. The overall survival rate and progression-free survival rate in the total gastrectomy group was significantly higher than that in the subtotal gastrectomy (P<0.01); the extended extent of lymph node dissection, the lower rate of positive surgical margin and postoperative complications were present in the total gastrectomy group (all P<0.05 or P<0.01).
 CONCLUSION The patients with diffuse-type AGC have a poor prognosis. The great tumor diameter, advanced T stage, advanced N stage, subtotal gastrectomy, high rate of positive surgical margin and postoperative complication are independent risky factors for the diffuse-type AGC. However, the total gastrectomy may be beneficial to patients.
Disease-Free Survival ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; pathology ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Postoperative Complications ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Survival Rate