Risk factors which predict pattern of recurrence after curative surgery for patients with advanced gastric cancer.

The objective of the study was to define risk factors for peritoneal dissemination and haematogenous metastasis after curative resection of patients with an advanced gastric cancer. In retrospective analyses of 405 patients, 168 died of a tumour recurrence. Patients who died of gastric cancer were more likely to have large, invasive tumours which had spread throughout the stomach, metastasized to lymph nodes, and vessel invasion by gastric cancerous cells (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). Of the 168 deaths, 60 (35.7%) were secondary to haematogenous recurrence, 53 (31.5%) were related to peritoneal dissemination, and 19 (11.3%) were related to a local recurrence. To determine the independent risk factors related to peritoneal dissemination and haematogenous metastasis, multivariate analyses using a stepwise logistic model suggested that serosal invasion (P < 0.01, relative risk = 2.57) and Borrmann type 4 (P < 0.01, relative risk = 1.95) were the greatest risk factors for peritoneal dissemination. The presence of lymph node metastasis (P < 0.01, relative risk = 2.62) and presence of vessel invasion by cancerous cells (P < 0.05, relative risk = 1.59) were the greatest risk factors for a haematogenous metastasis.