Clinical significance of tumor location in remnant gastric cancers developed after partial gastrectomy for primary gastric cancer

We sought to elucidate the clinical value of tumor location of the remnant gastric cancer developed after partial gastrectomy for gastric cancer to determine the disease characteristics and surgical outcome. Fifty-two patients underwent a second operation with a curative intent because of remnant gastric cancer after undergoing partial gastrectomy for gastric cancer between 1995 and 2005. The clinicopathological features of their primary and recurrent diseases, surgical results, and survivals according to tumor sites within the remnant stomach were examined. Tumors that developed at the anastomotic site (n=27) in remnant stomach favored a female gender, younger age, and unfavorable histological characteristics of primary and recurrent diseases and were also associated with lower tumor resectability than those that developed in the non-anastomotic site (n=25). The overall 5-year survival rates of patients that experienced an anastomotic recurrence and non-anastomotic recurrence were 36.9 and 95.8% (p=0.001), respectively, and the overall 5-year survival rates of patients with stage I primary gastric cancer were 83.3 and 100% (p=0.018) for anastomotic and non-anastomotic recurrence. Tumor location of remnant gastric cancer is an important factor for predicting surgical outcome, but it also reflects the characteristics of primary and recurrent diseases. It is hoped that these results will assist surgeons establishing the treatment plan for remnant gastric cancer.