Abstract
BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to provide valuable prognostic information on lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients following curative resection.METHODS: Data from 112 lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients who underwent curative resection were reviewed to identify the independent factors of overall survival and recurrence.RESULTS: The five-year survival rate of lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients was 85.7%, and recurrence was identified in 25 patients after curative surgery. The five-year survival rate of lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients was higher than that of lymph node-positive gastric cancer patients (P<0.001). Recurrence in lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients was less than that of lymph node-positive gastric cancer patients (P=0.001). The median survival after recurrence of lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients was longer than that of lymph node-positive gastric cancer patients (P=0.021). Using multivariate analyses, the following results were determined for lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients: sex, operative type and the presence of serosal involvement were independent factors of overall survival; and lymphadenectomy, number of dissected nodes and the presence of serosal involvement were independent factors of recurrence.CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients was better than that of lymph node-positive gastric cancer patients. Male sex, subtotal gastrectomy and nonserosal involvement should be considered to be the favourable predictors of postoperative long-term survival of lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients. Conversely, limited lymphadenectomy, few dissected nodes and serosal involvement should be considered to be risk factors of postoperative recurrence of lymph node-negative gastric cancer patients.