Postoperative follow-up of patients with gastric cancer according to nodal status.

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to determine the suitable postoperative management of patients with gastric cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 161 patients with gastric cancer who developed recurrence after curative resection were reviewed retrospectively to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of recurrence in subgroups classified according to the Japanese Classification of Gastric Cancer (JCGC) staging system. RESULTS Survival analysis of recurrent cases alone demonstrated significant differences in disease-free survival (DFS) among groups according to the pN stage (p=0.0009); however, there was no significant difference among groups according to the pT stage (p=0.39). Eighty percent of recurrences developed within 32, 25, and 15 months in the N0, N1/2 and N3 groups, respectively. CONCLUSION The present study demonstrated that DFS and post-recurrent survival significantly differed among groups according to pN stage. These findings may provide useful information for maximizing the efficiency of postoperative follow-up.