The Role of Palliative Surgery in Stage IV Gastric Cancer: A Retrospective Study

Background: Palliative chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma but in some patients, surgically correctable factors such as obstruction lead to intolerance of further systemic treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of selective palliative surgery in incurable gastric cancer. Methods: All patients with stage IV and locally advanced unresectable gastric adenocarcinoma treated at a single centre from March 2006 to January 2019 were included. Data were retrieved from a prospectively maintained database. Patients were categorized into palliative surgery (PS) and no surgery (NS). Results: Of 666 patients with gastric cancer treated over the study period, 146 patients had stage IV gastric adenocarcinoma and 121 patients met inclusion criteria. Sites of metastases were peritoneum (55; 46%), non-regional lymph nodes (10; 8%), solid organ (17, 14%), adjacent organ invasion (4, 3.3%) and a combination of factors (32, 26%). Forty-six (38%) patients underwent palliative surgery which included anatomical gastrectomy (total, subtotal, distal or proximal, 78%) gastro-jejunal bypass and feeding jejunostomy (12%). Thirty-day post-operative complications occurred in 24 patients (52%) with one mortality (2.1%). Following surgery, 52% received systemic chemotherapy. For the PS and NS groups respectively, median overall survival was 9.1 versus 9.4 months (p = 0.6) and median progression-free survival was 7.1 versus 6.7 months (p = 0.2) after a follow up period of 7.3 (4.7-13.1) versus 7.8 (2.6-13.4) months (p = 0.46). Conclusion: Targeted surgical intervention for incurable gastric cancer can be used to palliate symptoms and facilitate continuation of systemic therapy with acceptable risks and post-operative outcomes.