A cohort study on second malignancies in gastrectomized patients with gastric cancer. II. Second malignancies in the gastric remnant.

In a retrospective cohort study, a total of 22 (0.22 per cent) carcinomas of the gastric remnant were clinically observed, as second malignancies, in 7,672 patients during the average of a 9.4-year follow-up period. All had undergone distal subtotal gastrectomy for gastric cancer from 1960-1975 in seven different institutions. Of 22 carcinomas of the gastric remnant, 5 were at the anastomotic site, 14 distant from the anastomosis; the location was unknown in three. All five carcinomas of the anastomotic site occurred after Billroth II operation. Time intervals between the first operation and the occurrence of second cancer varied from two to 21 years. With regard to the administration of adjuvant chemotherapeutic agents such as mitomycin-C (MMC), 5-fluorouracil (5FU) or its derivative Tegafur, no significant differences in the rate of second malignancies were obtained between the chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy groups. The occurrence rate of cancer of the gastric remnant between Billroth I and Billroth II groups showed no statistically significant difference, although it did tend to be slightly higher in the latter.