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Reportedly, the recently established postoperative adjuvant chemotherapies (ADJs) with tegafur and uracil (UFT) or fluoropyrimidine S (S-1) show better survival than surgery alone in patients with advanced gastric cancer (GC). We analyzed chronological changes in postoperative prognosis of patients with advanced GC in our institute, and investigated the efficacy of ADJ in patients with stage II-III GC.Of 143 patients with stage II-III GC who underwent curative gastrectomy at Tottori University Hospital between 1998 and 2008, three died with operative complications within 1 month after surgery. The remaining 140 patients were followed to the end of 2013. We compared disease-free survival (DFS) and clinicopathological differences between 82 patients who underwent gastrectomy during 1998-2002 (Group A) and 58 patients who underwent gastrectomy during 2003-2008 (Group B).Operative quality, as represented by number of dissected lymph nodes, was similar in both groups, but the recurrence rate of Group A (51.2%) was higher than in Group B (37.9%, P = 0.12) and the 5-year DFS rate of Group B (62.3%) was higher than that of Group A (50.2%, P = 0.095). In stage II, the 5-year DFS rate of patients in Group B (73.3%) was similar to Group A (77%), but at tumor stage III, the 5-year DFS rate of patients in Group B increased to 48.7%, compared with 33.1% of Group A. Between 2003 and 2008, S-1 was widely used as ADJ for stage II-III GC.Postoperative ADJ with S-1 improved DFS of patients with stage III gastric cancer.

In hepatic resection for liver tumors, reducing operation time and blood loss are important for postsurgical complication prevention. This study aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of the LigaSure Small Jaw (Covidien, Boulder, CO) with those of the Cavitation Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator (CUSA) system (Integra Life Sciences, Plainsboro, NJ) in hepatic surgery.We enrolled 102 patients with liver tumors, of whom 51 underwent liver resection with the CUSA (CUSA group) between March 2004 and April 2011. Another 51 underwent resection with the LigaSure Small Jaw (LS group) between June 2011 and July 2012. We stratified patients by time period depending on the instrument used, and compared operative duration; intraoperative bleeding; and postoperative liver function and complication rate.Total operation time (mean ± SD) was significantly shorter in the LS group than in the CUSA group (358.8 ± 91.7 versus 460.6 ± 146.1 min, P0.001). Blood loss was not significantly different between the 2 groups. Frequency of postoperative complications was lower, but not significantly, in the LS group.The LigaSure Small Jaw may allow a shorter total operative duration than the CUSA device.

Although the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of Borrmann type advanced gastric cancer has been well characterized, those of advanced gastric cancer simulating early gastric cancer (AGC simulating EGC) still remains unclear.We reviewed 1985 gastric cancer patients who had undergone gastrectomy at our hospital to determine the clinicopathologic characteristics, susceptible sites for lymph node metastasis, and prognosis of AGC simulating EGC in comparison with Borrmann type advanced gastric cancer.Among 102 patients with AGC simulating EGC, 100 patients (98%) had tumors with depressed type appearance. The frequencies of serosal invasion, lymph node metastasis, lymphatic vessel invasion, blood vessel invasion, and liver metastasis were significantly lower in AGC simulating EGC than in Borrmann type tumors. The prognosis of AGC simulating EGC was significantly better than that of the Borrmann type tumors. Multivariate analysis indicated that the gross appearance was an independent prognostic factor. In patients with AGC simulating EGC which invaded to the the muscularis propria (MP), most lymph node metastasis was restricted with the perigastric lymph nodes (1st-titer lymph nodes) and lymph node metastasis to 2nd-titer lymph nodes was only observed at station 8a.AGC simulating EGC is less advanced in comparison with Borrmann type advanced gastric cancer. Based on the results of susceptible sites for lymph node metastasis in the current study, limited lymph node dissection could be indicated for AGC simulating EGC whose depth of invasion is MP.

Laparoscopic surgery requires a more detailed understanding of local anatomy than does conventional open surgery. The aim of this study was to examine the usefulness of dynamic computed tomography (D-CT) for identification of the location of the left gastric vein (LGV) and existence of the aberrant left hepatic artery (ALHA) compared with conventional enhanced computed tomography (E-CT).Sixty-eight patients underwent laparoscopic-assisted gastrectomy (LAG). E-CT and D-CT were performed in 32 and 36 patients, respectively, and three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography (3D-CTA) was performed in addition to D-CT. The location of the LGV and existence of the ALHA were confirmed during LAG, and these results were compared with those determined preoperatively by CT imaging.The location of the LGV as detected by preoperative E-CT and D-CT was consistent with that identified during LAG in 28 (87.5%) and 31 (88.9%) patients, respectively, with no statistical differences. The existence of the ALHA as detected by preoperative E-CT and D-CT was consistent with that identified during gastrectomy in 24 (75%) and 36 (100%) patients, respectively, with a statistical difference (P = 0.005). Furthermore, the type of ALHA could be identified in 10 of 12 patients (83.3%) by D-CT.D-CT can produce excellent images of the vascular supply, and thus undoubtedly contributes to the preoperative planning of LAG. Preoperative D-CT might be an informative tool with which to help overcome the disadvantages of LAG.

The prognosis of patients with gastric cancer with esophageal invasion is extremely poor. To evaluate factors related to this poor prognosis, we analyzed 200 patients with gastric cancer located in the upper third of the stomach. These patients underwent gastrectomy and were divided into two groups in terms of the presence (E[+] group; n=62) or absence (E[-] group; n=138) of histological evidence of esophageal invasion. Even when apparently curative surgery was performed, the 5-year survival rate of patients with E[+] gastric cancer (45.8%) was significantly lower than of patients with E[-] gastric cancer (71.6%). In the E[+] group, the 5-year survival rate of patients who had tumors with infiltrative growth and DNA aneuploidy was only 10.0%. These patients had a high frequency of peritoneal metastasis at operation (5/16; 31.3%); even when apparently curative operations were performed, 50% of these patients died from peritoneal metastatic recurrence within 2 years after surgery. Gastric adenocarcinoma with esophageal invasion accompanied by infiltrative growth and DNA aneuploidy had a high potential for peritoneal metastasis. This combination is associated with the most pessimistic prognosis for patients with gastric cancer with esophageal invasion. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Expression of P-glycoprotein (pgp) was analyzed by immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal antibody JSB-1 in 145 frozen specimens (67 were samples of normal colorectal mucosa from sites adjacent to the tumor, 66 were colorectal carcinomas, 5 colorectal polyps, 5 metastatic lymph nodes, and 2 samples of metastatic liver tumors) of 67 patients with colorectal carcinoma and polyps. All 72 specimens of normal colorectal mucosa and adenomatous polyps expressed pgp to various degrees. By contrast, 18 of 39 (46.2%) samples from cases of well differentiated adenocarcinoma were positive for pgp but only 3 of 21 (14.3%) samples from cases of moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma and none of the 4 samples from cases of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma were positive for pgp. There was no correlation between the clinicopathological stage of colorectal carcinoma and the expression of pgp. These findings indicate that the expression of P-glycoprotein is closely related to the differentiation of cells. In normal colorectal epithelium, pgp was expressed normally and in well differentiated adenocarcinomas, pgp was still expressed. However, expression of pgp was no longer detectable in carcinomas with moderate or poor differentiation.

Thirteen samples of gastric tumors that had developed in the remnant stomach (remnant gastric cancer) were compared with 63 samples of primary gastric tumors located in the upper third of the stomach (primary gastric cancer) by both clinicopathologic and flow cytometric analysis. The depths of invasion of all these tumors corresponded to the mucosa, submucosa, or muscularis propria layers and the histological stages were stages I, II, or III. There was no significant difference between the two groups of samples either histopathologically or clinically (the 5-year survival rates were 74.6% for patients with remnant gastric cancer and 90.4% for patients with primary gastric cancer). DNA aneuploidy was encountered in 23.1% of the cases of remnant gastric cancer and in 33.3% of the cases of primary gastric cancer. Little difference was found in the S-phase fractions between tumors and normal gastric mucosa of the upper third of the stomach and the remnant stomach. Thus, while the environments in the upper third of the stomach and in the remnant stomach are very different, histopathological and biological characteristics of adenocarcinomas that developed in the remnant stomach are very similar to those of adenocarcinomas in the upper third of the stomach.