Surgical experience with 5 n3(+) early gastric carcinoma cases.

Of 370 patients who underwent a resection for early gastric carcinoma, 317 (85.6%) were N(-), 28 n1(+), 20 n2(+) and five (1.4%) n3 respectively. In this study, n3(+) early gastric cancers were clinicopathologically evaluated and sites of the metastatic nodes were also defined. In addition, a comparative study in DNA ploidy patterns between primary and metastatic node cell was performed according to Hedley's method using a FACS-IV scan of paraffin-embedded tissues. All n3(+) early gastric cancers showed an aneuploidy pattern. R2 or R3 operations are recommended for early gastric carcinomas with aneuploidy pattern and most of the metastatic nodes arise from the identical stem cell line of cancer cells.