The operative indications for proximal gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer in the upper third of the stomach

While proximal gastrectomy is often performed for early gastric cancer in Japan, it remains unclear whether or not proximal gastrectomy should be performed for advanced gastric cancer. This study was designed to determine the operative indications for proximal gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer in the upper third of the stomach. A total of 1691 patients with gastric cancer were reviewed retrospectively from hospital records during the period from 1969 to 1994, and the clinicopathologic characteristics of 82 patients who underwent proximal gastrectomy were compared with those of 150 patients who underwent total gastrectomy. Lymph node metastasis along the lower part of the stomach was observed in gastric cancers which had invaded beyond the muscularis propria of the stomach, but not in those confined to the muscularis propria. Three patients with gastric cancer that had invaded beyond the muscularis propria and metastasized to nodes along the lower part of the stomach were cured by total gastrectomy. However, there was no difference in the postoperative survival rates of the patients treated with proximal gastrectomy and those treated with total gastrectomy, irrespective of tumor stage and depth of invasion. Thus, proximal gastrectomy should be performed for gastric cancer when the depth of invasion is confined to the muscularis propria of the stomach.