Risk Factors of Vascular Invasion in Patients with Resectable Gastric Cancer

Objective To explore the risk factors for vascular invasion and its influence on prognosis of resectable gastric cancer patients by analyzing the clinicopathological features. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of 1077 patients with stage Ⅰ-Ⅲ gastric cancer who underwent surgical resection. According to whether vascular invasion occurred, they were divided into LVI positive group (n=672) and LVI negative group (n=405). Logistic univariate and multivariate analyses were used for the relation between clinical pathological features and LVI. Survival analysis was used to study the relation between vascular invasion and survival rate in patients with stage Ⅰ gastric cancer. Results Univariate analysis showed that tumor size, type of differentiation, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, Lauren classification, nerve invasion and the increase of CEA, CA125 and CA199 were risk factors for vascular invasion (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that poor differentiation, deep invasion, lymph node metastasis, nerve invasion and elevated CA724 were independent risk factors for vascular invasion. The 5-year survival rate of stage Ⅰ gastric cancer patients with vascular invasion was significantly lower than that without vascular invasion (P < 0.01). Conclusion Gastric cancer patients with poor differentiation, deep invasion, lymph node metastasis, nerve invasion and elevated CA724 are more prone to vascular invasion. Patients with stage I gastric cancer at risk of vascular invasion should be treated more aggressively.