Clinical value of gastric bare area for the prognosis of gastric fundus and cardia carcinoma

Objective To explore the clinical value of gastric bare area (GBA) for the prognosis of gastric fundus and cardia carcinoma. Methods The data of 82 patients with gastric fundus and cardia carcinoma from January 2010 to December 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into group A (49 cases) with cancer cell invasion in GBA and group B (33 cases) without invasion in GBA. All the patients underwent D2 gastrectomy plus surgical resection of GBA and were treated by 6 cycles of postoperative FOLFOX-4 chemotherapy scheme. Postoperative follow-up and survival analysis were carried out for patients in both groups. Results According to survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier method), the postoperative 1-, 2- and 3-year cumulative survival rates of the patients in group A were 91.8 %, 57.3 % and 29.0 %, respectively, while those of the patients in group B were 93.9 %, 75.0 % and 48.2 %, respectively. The median survival times of the patients in group A and group B were 27.0 months and 36.0 months, respectively, which was demonstrated existing statistical significance(χ2 = 4.972, P= 0.026). Conclusions The prognosis of gastric fundus and cardia carcinoma patients with invasion in GBA by cancer cells is poor. Surgical resection of GBA may help to improve the prognosis of the patients with gastric fundus and cardia carcinoma. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Gastric bare area; Survival analysis