Palliative Resection in Noncurative Gastric Cancer Patients

Background Palliative resection for noncurable gastric cancer remains controversial, especially in the elderly. This retrospective study was designed to elucidate the clinicopathological factors and operative outcome in patients undergoing palliative gastric resection. Methods From January 1988 to December 2008, 365 patients received palliative gastrectomy while 151 underwent exploratory laparotomy or gastrojejunostomy for noncurative gastric cancer at the Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital. Among the 365 patients, 182 patients (Group A) were aged 70 or less and 183 patients (Group B) were older than 70 years of age. Clinicopathological characteristics and surgical morbidity and mortality were analyzed. Results The overall survival of patients who underwent resection was 10.2 months and that of patients without resection 4.48 months ( p