Radical gastrectomy combined with perioperative comprehensive treatment is the main curable strategy for gastric cancer patients, and postoperative complications are the issue that gastric surgeons have to face. Complications not only affect the short-term postoperative recovery, but also facilitate tumor recurrence or metastasis, thus resulting in poor prognosis. Therefore, unifying the diagnostic criteria for postoperative complications, bringing the surgeons' attention to complications, and understanding the potential mechanism of complications undermining long-term survival, will be helpful to the future improvement of the clinical diagnosis and treatment as well as prognosis for gastric cancer patients in China. Meanwhile, surgeons should constantly hone their operative skills, improve their sense of responsibility and empathy, and administer individualized perioperative management based on patients' general conditions, so as to minimize the occurrence of postoperative complications and their influence on prognosis.
Humans ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology* ; Empathy ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/surgery* ; Prognosis ; Gastrectomy/methods* ; Postoperative Complications/etiology* ; Surgeons ; Retrospective Studies

Objective: To evaluate the effects on short-term clinical outcomes and long-term quality of life of laparoscopic-assisted radical proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis versus total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis for adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction. Methods: This was a propensity score matching, retrospective, cohort study. Clinicopathological data of 184 patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction admitted to two medical centers in China from January 2016 to January 2021 were collected (147 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University and 37 in the Affiliated Hospital of Qinghai University). All patients had undergone laparoscopic-assisted radical gastrectomy. They were divided into two groups based on the extent of tumor resection and technique used for digestive tract reconstruction. A proximal gastrectomy with reconstruction by esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group comprised 82 patients and a total gastrectomy with reconstruction by Roux-en-Y anastomosis group comprised 102 patients. These groups differed significantly in the following baseline characteristics: age, preoperative hemoglobin, preoperative albumin, tumor length, tumor differentiation, and tumor TNM stage (all P<0.05). To eliminate potential bias caused by unequal distribution between the two groups, 1∶1 matching was performed by the nearest neighbor matching method. The 13 matched variables comprised sex, age, height, body mass, body mass index, preoperative glucose, preoperative hemoglobin, preoperative total protein, preoperative albumin, neoadjuvant radiotherapy, tumor length, degree of differentiation, and pathological TNM stage. Postoperative complications, postoperative nutritional status, incidence of reflux esophagitis 1 year after surgery, and quality of life were compared between the two groups. Results: After propensity score matching, 60 patients each were enrolled in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis and total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis groups. The baseline characteristics were comparable between these groups (all P>0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups in operative time, intraoperative bleeding, time to semifluid diet, postoperative hospital days, tumor length, and total hospital costs (P>0.05). Patients in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group had earlier postoperative gastric tube and abdominal drainage tube removal time than those in the total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis group (t=-2.183, P=0.023 and t=-4.073, P<0.001, respectively). In contrast, significantly fewer lymph nodes were cleared and significantly fewer lymph nodes were positive in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group than in the total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis group (t=-5.754, P<0.001 and t=-2.575, P=0.031, respectively). The incidence of early postoperative complications was 43.3% (26/60) in the total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis group; this is not significantly higher than the 26.7% (16/60) in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group (χ²=3.663，P=0.056). The incidences of pulmonary infection (31.7%, 19/60) and pleural effusion (30.0%, 18/60) were significantly higher in the total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis group than in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group (13.3%, 8/60 and 8.3%, 5/60, respectively); these differences are significant (χ²=8.711, P=0.003 and χ²=11.368, P=0.001, respectively). All early complications were successfully treated before discharge. The incidence of long-term postoperative complications was 20.0% (12/60) in the total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis group and 35.0% (21/60) in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group; this difference is not significant (χ²=3.386，P=0.066). The incidence of reflux esophagitis was 23.3% (14/60) in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group; this is significantly higher than the 1.7% (1/60) in the total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis group (χ²=12.876, P<0.001). Body mass index had decreased significantly in both groups 1 year after surgery compared with preoperatively; however, the difference between the two groups was not significant (P>0.05). The differences in hemoglobin and albumin concentrations between 1 year postoperatively and preoperatively were not significant (both P>0.05). Quality of life was assessed using the Visick grade. Visick grade I dominated in both groups. The percentage of patients with Visick II and III in the total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis group was 11.7% (7/60), which is significantly lower than the 33.3% (20/60) in the proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis group (χ²=8.076, P=0.004). No patients in either group had a grade IV quality of life. Conclusions: Both proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis and total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis laparoscopic-assisted radical surgery for adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction are safe and feasible. However, both procedures have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of postoperative complications. The incidence of reflux esophagitis is higher after proximal gastrectomy with esophageal gastric tube anastomosis, whereas the long-term quality of life is lower than that of patients after total gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis.
Humans ; Anastomosis, Roux-en-Y ; Retrospective Studies ; Cohort Studies ; Esophagitis, Peptic ; Quality of Life ; Propensity Score ; Gastrectomy/methods* ; Esophagogastric Junction/surgery* ; Anastomosis, Surgical/methods* ; Adenocarcinoma/pathology* ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology* ; Postoperative Complications ; Treatment Outcome

Objective: To investigate the effect of visceral fat area (VFA) on the surgical efficacy and early postoperative complications of radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: A retrospective cohort study method was used. Clinicopathological data and preoperative imaging data of 195 patients who underwent D2 radical gastric cancer surgery at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University from January 2014 to December 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Inclusion criteria: (1) complete clinicopathological and imaging data; (2) malignant gastric tumor diagnosed by preoperative pathology, and gastric cancer confirmed by postoperative pathology; (3) no preoperative complications such as bleeding, obstruction or perforation, and no distant metastasis. Those who had a history of abdominal surgery, concurrent malignant tumors, poor basic conditions, emergency surgery, palliative resection, and preoperative neoadjuvant therapy were excluded. The VFA was calculated by software and VFA ≥ 100 cm² was defined as visceral obesity according to the Japan Obesity Association criteria . The patients were divided into high VFA (VFA-H, VFA≥100 cm², n=96) group and low VFA (VFA-L, VFA<100 cm², n=99) group . The clinicopathological characteristics, surgical outcomes and early postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression models were used to analyze the risk factors of early complications. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze predictive values of VFA for early complications. Pearson's χ² test was used to analyze the correlation between BMI and VFA. Results: There were no significant differences in terms of gender, age, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classification, preoperative comorbidities, preoperative anemia, tumor TNM staging, N staging, T staging and tumor differentiation, surgical method, extent of resection, and tumor location between the VFA-L group and the VFA-H group (all P>0.05). However, patients in the VFA-H group had higher BMI, larger tumor, lower rate of hypoalbuminemia and greater subcutaneous fat area (SFA) (all P<0.05). The VFA-H group presented significantly longer operation time and significantly less number of harvested lymph nodes as compared to the VFA-L group (both P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in intraoperative blood loss, conversion to laparotomy and postoperative hospital stay (all P>0.05). Complications of Clavien-Dindo grade II and above within 30 days after operation were mainly anastomosis-related complications (leakage, bleeding, infection and stricture), intestinal obstruction and incision infection. The VFA-H group had a higher morbidity of early complications compared to the VFA-L group [24.0% (23/96) vs 10.1% (10/99), χ²=6.657, P=0.010], and the rates of anastomotic complications and incision infection were also higher in the VFA group [10.4% (10/96) vs. 3.0% (3/99), χ²=4.274, P=0.039; 7.3% (7/96) vs. 1.0% (1/99), P=0.033]. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that high BMI (OR=3.688, 95%CI: 1.685-8.072, P=0.001) and high VFA (OR=2.526, 95%CI: 1.148-5.559,P=0.021) were independent risk factors for early complications. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of VFA for predicting early complications was 0.645, which was higher than that of body weight (0.591), BMI (0.624) and SFA (0.626). Correlation analysis indicated that there was a significantly positive correlation between BMI and VFA (r=0.640, P<0.001). Conclusion: VFA ≥ 100 cm² is an independent risk factor for early complications after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer.It can better predict the occurrence of above early postoperative complications.
Gastrectomy/methods* ; Humans ; Laparoscopy/methods* ; Lipids ; Obesity/surgery* ; Obesity, Abdominal/surgery* ; Postoperative Complications/epidemiology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology*

Adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction (AEG) is at a special anatomic site with obviously higher morbidity of postoperative complication than gastric cancers at other sites. Postoperative quality of life and survival rate are influenced by the occurrence of complications. Moreover, the perioperative complications are associated with multiple factors such as patient factors (advanced age, obesity and preoperative nutritional status), surgical factors (surgical route, surgical procedure, resection range and prophylactic multivisceral resection), tumor factors (size, stage) etc. Optimizing perioperative management and formulating standardized surgical methods are the key points to prevent postoperative complications of AEG. In conclusion, we should strive to ensure the radical resection and reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications in order to truly benefit patients.
Adenocarcinoma/pathology* ; Esophageal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Esophagogastric Junction/surgery* ; Gastrectomy ; Humans ; Neoplasm Staging ; Postoperative Complications/surgery* ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology*

Objective: To obtain experience and generate suggestions for reducing average hospital stays, optimizing perioperative management of patients with gastric cancer and improving utilization of medical resources by analyzing the factors influencing super-long hospital stays in patients undergoing radical gastrectomy in the age of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS). Methods: This was a case-control study. Inclusion criteria: (1) pathologically diagnosed gastric adenocarcinoma; (2) radical surgery for gastric cancer; and (3) complete clinicopathologic data. Exclusion criteria: (1) history of upper abdominal surgery; (2) presence of distant metastasis of gastric cancer or other ongoing neoplastic diseases; (3) concurrent chemoradiotherapy; and (4) preoperative gastric cancer-related complications such as obstruction or perforation. The study cohort comprised 285 eligible patients with hospital stays of ≥30 days (super-long hospital stay group). Using propensity score matching in a 1:1 ratio, age, sex, medical insurance, pTNM stage, and extent of surgical resection as matching factors, 285 patients with hospital stays of < 30 days during the same period were selected as the control group (non-long hospital stay group). The primary endpoint was relationship between pre-, intra-, and post-operative characteristics and super-long hospital stays. Clavien-Dindo grade was used to classify complications. Results: Univariate analysis showed that number of comorbidities, number of preoperative consultations, preoperative consultation, inter-departmental transference, operation time, open surgery, blood loss, intensive care unit time, presence of surgical or non-surgical complications, Clavien-Dindo grade of postoperative complications, and reoperation were associated with super-long hospital stays (all P<0.05). Inter-departmental transference (OR=4.876, 95% CI: 1.500-16.731, P<0.001), preoperative consultation time ≥ 3 d (OR=1.758, 95%CI: 1.036-2.733, P=0.034), postoperative surgery-related complications (OR = 6.618, 95%CI: 2.141-20.459, P=0.01), and higher grade of complications (Clavien-Dindo Grade I: OR = 7.176, 95%CI: 1.785-28.884, P<0.001; Clavien-Dindo Grade II: OR = 18.984, 95%CI: 6.286-57.312, P<0.001; Clavien-Dindo Grade III-IV: OR=7.546, 95%CI:1.495-37.952, P=0.014) were independent risk factors for super-long hospital stays. Conclusion: Optimizing preoperative management, enhancing perioperative management, and surgical quality control can reduce the risk of prolonging average hospital stay.
Humans ; Case-Control Studies ; Retrospective Studies ; Length of Stay ; Stomach Neoplasms/pathology* ; Enhanced Recovery After Surgery ; Gastrectomy/adverse effects* ; Postoperative Complications/etiology*

Gastric stump cancer (GSC) is a carcinoma arising from the remnant stomach following gastric surgery for benign or malignant disease, and is more common in men. The risk of morbidity has an obvious time dependence. GSC incidence is likely to rise with lengthening of the initial operation interval. The GSC time interval after malignant disease is significantly shorter than that of benign disease. GSC etiologies mainly include duodenogastric reflux and denervation of the gastric mucosa resulting in the change of the gastric environment after gastrectomy and the Helicobacter pylori infection. Due to atypical clinical symptoms, GSC is always identified at an advanced stage and the long-term survival rate is low. An optimal endoscopic surveillance system is essential to improve early detection rates. Treatments in GSC and primary gastric cancer are the same and include resection of the lesion and radical lymph node dissection. R0 resection is an important prognostic factor. Here we review previous reports with respect to epidemiological characteristics, etiology, clinical symptoms, treatment, and prognosis of GSC.
Gastrectomy ; Gastric Stump ; pathology ; surgery ; Helicobacter Infections ; complications ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; Male ; Stomach Neoplasms ; surgery

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Controversy exists regarding the characteristics of Helicobacter pylori infection-negative gastric cancer (HPIN-GC). The aim of this study was to evaluate clinicopathologic features of HPIN-GC compared to H. pylori infection-positive gastric cancer (HPIP-GC) using a comprehensive analysis that included genetic and environmental factors. METHODS: H. pylori infection status of 705 resectable gastric cancer patients was determined by the rapid urease test, testing for anti-H. pylori antibodies, histologic analysis and culture of gastric cancer tissue samples, and history of H. pylori eradication. HPIN-GC was defined as gastric cancer that was negative for H. pylori infection based on all five methods and that had no evidence of atrophy in histology or serology. RESULTS: The prevalence of HPIN-GC was 4% (28/705). No significant differences with respect to age, sex, smoking, drinking, family history of gastric cancer or obesity were observed between the two groups. HPIN-GC tumors were marginally more likely to involve the cardia (14.3% for HPIN-GC vs 5.3% for HPIP-GC, p=0.068). The Lauren classification, histology, and TNM stage did not differ according to H. pylori infection status. Microsatellite instability was not different between the two groups, but p53 overexpression in HPIN-GC was marginally higher than in HPIP-GC (56.0% for HPIN-GC vs 37.0% for HPIP-GC, p=0.055). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HPIN-GC was extremely low, and its clinicopathologic characteristics were similar to HPIP-GC.
Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis ; Female ; Helicobacter Infections/*complications/epidemiology/microbiology ; *Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Prospective Studies ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Stomach Neoplasms/epidemiology/*microbiology/*pathology/surgery ; Urease/analysis

BACKGROUNDAngiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels to supply nutrients to tumors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and cluster of differentiation 34 (CD34) are important signaling proteins involved in angiogenesis. Many studies have demonstrated that VEGF and CD34 are related to tumor progression. This study focused on the relationship between VEGF, CD34, and perioperative hemorrhage in patients with gastric cancer.

METHODSTo observe the relationship between VEGF and CD34, we tracked 112 patients with advanced gastric cancer for 5 years to assess factors related to hemorrhage, using immunohistochemistry. The results were subjected to statistical analysis using a 2 × 2 contingency table, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) test.

RESULTSThe concentrations of VEGF and CD34 were critically correlated with perioperative hemorrhage and neural invasion in patients with gastric cancer (P < 0.05). Expression of VEGF and CD34 was related (P < 0.05, χ2 = 6.834). VEGF and CD34 co-expression strongly increased the risk of preoperative bleeding (area under the ROC curve >0.7, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSExpression of VEGF and CD34 was critically correlated with perioperative hemorrhage in gastric cancer patients. Co-expression of VEGF and CD34 could be an effective indicator for evaluating the risk of perioperative bleeding in gastric cancer patients.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antigens, CD34 ; metabolism ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; etiology ; metabolism ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; complications ; metabolism ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stomach Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; metabolism ; Young Adult

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

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been successfully performed in thrombocytopenic conditions such as in patients with liver cirrhosis but successful ESD for early gastric cancer (EGC) in hematologic diseases has rarely been reported. A 52-year-old male patient, who had previously been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome 2 years ago, was admitted to our hospital for ESD of EGC. ESD was performed successfully in this patient after platelet concentrates transfusion on the day of ESD. ESD might be an option for the treatment of EGC in thrombocytopenia due to hematologic diseases when optimal supportive managements are applied.
Early Detection of Cancer ; Endosonography ; Gastric Mucosa/*surgery ; Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes/complications/*diagnosis/pathology ; Stomach Neoplasms/complications/*diagnosis/pathology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed