Time to death and pattern of death in recurrence following curative resection of gastric carcinoma: analysis based on depth of invasion.

It is difficult to predict recurrence in patients who undergo curative gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma. If the timing and site of recurrence can be predicted, it becomes easier to detect recurrent disease. Records of 290 patients who died of tumor recurrence after curative gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed to determine whether the depth of carcinoma invasion is independently correlated with the time to death due to tumor recurrence. Additionally, the relation between the pattern of recurrence and the depth of invasion of the gastric wall was examined. Postoperative survival in patients with tumors with deep invasion was shorter than that of patients with tumors with shallow invasion. Depth of invasion was a predictor of survival on multivariate analysis. When carcinoma invaded into deeper layers, the incidence of peritoneal metastasis and local recurrence rose and that of hematogenous metastasis fell. In conclusion, the timing of death and the site of recurrence after gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma might be predicted by the depth of invasion of the gastric wall.