Inadequate documentation and resection for gastric cancer in the United States: a preliminary report.

Overview

Patients entered into Southwest Oncology Group gastric adjuvant protocol INT 0016 (SWOG 9008) after a "curative" gastric resection were assessed to determine practice patterns of more than 300 surgeons nationwide who performed "curative" gastric resections for 453 gastric cancer patients. The most common gastric resection performed was distal in 256 patients, proximal in 118, and total in 79. Extragastric organs resected were omentum (285), spleen (59), pancreas (18), and bowel (17). The extent of lymphadenectomy as staged by Japanese rules was 246 (54.2%) D0 resections, 173 (38.1%) D1 resections, 28 (6.2%) D2 resections, and 7 (1.5%) D3 resections. Staging of the cancer was poorly documented, with no statement made regarding the status of the primary cancer in 6 per cent, liver in 10 per cent, lymph nodes in 17 per cent, and omentum in 17 per cent. The greater the lymph node clearance, the greater the chance of resecting to a level of negative lymphatics, given that 45 per cent of nodes were involved when 10 or less were removed, whereas only 17 per cent were positive when more than 40 were cleared. The lack of adequate clearance of lymph nodes and poor documentation of tumor stage suggests that a more regimented surgical approach to this uncommon cancer is required.