2018 Volume 60 Issue 6 Pages 1173-1185
According to the guidelines established by the Japanese Gastric Cancer Association and Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society, radical surgery is recommended for all patients who underwent non-curative endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD)/endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for early gastric cancer (EGC) because of the potential risk of lymph node metastasis (LNM). However, 29-70% of patients who underwent non-curative ESD/EMR have been followed up with no additional treatment. In addition, the rate of LNM among patients who underwent radical surgery after non-curative ESD/EMR is 4-11%. The strongest independent risk factor for LNM in patients who underwent non-curative ESD is lymphatic invasion, and there are other independent risk factors such as venous invasion as well. We previously reported a simple scoring system for predicting LNM in patients who underwent non-curative ESD, which may provide useful information in clinical practice. Meanwhile, patients with gastric cancer have become older. Thus, the establishment of a prognostic model for predicting overall survival including cancer-related mortality in elderly patients who underwent non-curative ESD/EMR is required.