Abstract
This study was performed on 309 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone resection of grade 2 (R2) or more, during the period from 1980 to 1985. No metastasis to _??_ lymph nodes was found in cases of early cancer, whereas in advanced cases with serosal invasion, metastasis was found in 16.7%. In cases of region A (lower portion) alone, metastatic rates to first group lymph nodes were as follows: the rate of _??_ in early cancer was 1.9%, and the rate to (6) was 5.8%. In advanced cancer with serosal invasion, on the other hand, the metastatic rate to _??_ was 33.3%, and that to (6) was 45.8%. These rates were higher than that to _??_, 16.7%. The metastatic rate to second group lymph nodes in the case of eraly cancer was 1.9%. The above findings suggest that dissection of _??_ lymph nodes is not necessary in cases without serosal invasion macroscopically at operation of region A cancer. Note:
_??_: lymph nodes along the left gastroepiploic artery, _??_: lymph nodes along the right gastroepiploic artery, (6): subpyloric lymph nodes.
