Abstract
The purpose of this study was to review the pattern of recurrence of early gastric cancer and the actual state of death from other diseases and cancer of other organs affecting prognosis. The subjects were patients with early gastric cancer, 304 with mucosal cancer and 276 with submucosal cancer. Seventy-one died from the following diseases: recurrent gastric cancer (4 patients, 5.6%), cancer in the remnant stomach (3 patients, 4.2%), noncancerous diseases (41 patients, 57.7%), and cancer of other organs (23 patients, 32.4%). There were recurrences in one patients with mucosal cancer and three with submucosal cancer patients, and three patients had lymph node metastasis (n (-): 1 patients; n2 (+): 2 patients; n3 (+): 1 patients). Cancer recurred in the peritoneum, Virchow's node, the liver and lungs. The major causes of death other than cancer were cardiac disease (11 patients, 28.2%), cerebro-vascular diseases (7 patients, 17.9%), and respiratory disease (7 patients, 17.9%). The major causes of death due to cancer of other organs were colorectal cancer (6 patients, 26.1%) and lung cancer (6 patients, 26.1%), followed by hepatoma (4 patients, 17.4%) and pancreatic cancer (3 patients, 13.0%). In general, colorectal cancer was synchronous and lung and liver cancers heterochronous. Consequently, postoperative treatment of early gastric cancer patients demands periodic gastroscopy of the remnant stomach, complete examination to detect cancer in other organs, and preventing death from other diseases.
