Prognostic factors in stage IB gastric cancer

AIM:To identify the subset of patients with stage IB gastric cancer with an unfavorable prognosis.METHODS:Overall survival(OS)rates were examined in 103 patients with stage IB(T1N1M0 and T2N0M0)gastric cancer between January 2000 and December2011.Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors using a Cox proportional hazards model.RESULTS:The OS rates of patients with T1N1 and T2N0 cancer were 89.2%and 94.1%at 5-years,re-spectively.Both univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that tumor location was the only significant prognostic factor.The OS rate was 81.8%at5-years when the tumor was located in the upper third of the stomach and was 95.5%at 5-years when the tumor was located in the middle or lower third of the stomach(P=0.0093).CONCLUSION:These data may suggest that tumor location is associated with survival in patients with stage IB gastric cancer.