Glasgow prognostic score is a useful predictive factor of outcome after palliative gastrectomy for stage IV gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM The Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) is a predictor of outcome for several cancer types. The present study examined the significance of modified GPS (mGPS) in the prognosis of patients undergoing palliative surgery for stage IV gastric cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 42 patients with stage IV gastric cancer treated with palliative gastrectomy and gastrojejunostomy were included in the study. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between clinicopathological factors and cancer-specific survival (CS). RESULTS Among patients who underwent palliative surgery including gastrectomy and gastrojejunostomy, univariate analysis of CS identified the following significant risk factors: surgical treatment, chemotherapy and mGPS, and multivariate analysis revealed that mGPS was independently-associated with CS. In particular, among patients who underwent palliative gastrectomy, mGPS was shown to be the strongest independent predictive factor for CS. CONCLUSION The mGPS was an independent predictive factor for survival in patients who underwent palliative surgery for stage IV incurable gastric cancer, especially for those who underwent palliative gastrectomy.