Background: In patients with stage II/III gastric cancer, tumors often recur even after curative D2 gastrectomy followed by adjuvant S-1 chemotherapy. The objective of this retrospective study was to clarify the prognostic factors in these patients that might be useful for future patients.
Methods: Overall survival (OS) was examined in 82 gastric cancer patients who underwent curative D2 surgery; were diagnosed with stage IIA, IIB, IIIA, IIIB, or IIIC pathologically; and received adjuvant S-1 after surgery between June 2002 and March 2010.
Results: When length of OS was evaluated by the log-rank test, significant differences were observed with regard to macroscopic tumor diameter and the depth of tumor invasion. A macroscopic tumor diameter >70 mm was regarded as a critical point of classification considering survival. Univariate and multivariate Cox's proportional hazard analyses demonstrated that macroscopic tumor diameter was the only significant independent prognosticator. The 5-year survival was 64.9% in patients with a macroscopic tumor diameter <70 mm, and 33.1% in patients with a macroscopic tumor diameter ≥70 mm (P = 0.022).
Conclusions: The macroscopic tumor diameter was the most important prognostic factor for survival in patients with stage II/III gastric cancer who underwent D2 gastrectomy followed by adjuvant S-1 chemotherapy. Prognostic factors can be affected by adjuvant chemotherapy.