Selection of operative procedure for adenocarcinoma of the midstomach. Twenty years' experience with implications for future treatment strategy.

Pathoanatomic studies of the regional spread of adenocarcinoma of the middle one-third of the stomach suggested the need for extensive gastric and lymphatic resection. To seek evidence of improved results, a retrospective study was made of 213 patients curatively treated by three commonly used procedures: 1) radical high subtotal gastrectomy (SG, n = 39), 2) radical total gastrectomy (TG, n = 48), and 3) extended total gastrectomy (ETG, n = 126). The overall five-year survival rates were SG:10%, TG:16%, and ETG:19%. Advanced stage tumors (N2, N3, or M1) were highly lethal, irrespective of the type of resection. However, patients with early stage tumors (T1-4, N0 or N1) showed higher survival rates after more extensive resections (ETG:42% and TG: six of eight patients, versus SG:17%). The highest survival rate (93%) was observed in a subset of patients with early stage tumors electively treated by ETG; this was achieved despite the presence of metastasis to the juxtagastric (N1) lymph nodes or direct invasion of an adjacent organ in most of these patients. These observations confirm the merit of extensive resection for carcinoma of the midstomach.