The role of surgery in the treatment of gastric cancer.

During the past decades, despite considerable improvements in the management of gastric cancer, surgery remains the main curative treatment. However, there is still debate about the extent of gastrectomy and lymphadenectomy, multivisceral resection, the requirement for reoperation for specimens with positive margins, the selection of neoadjuvant treatment and the management strategy of early gastric cancer. This review is to evaluate the above issues based on the reported prospective and retrospective studies. (c) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.