Prognostic significance of radical surgical treatment for gastric cancer patients with synchronous liver metastases

It has been widely accepted that radical resection is the primary consideration to improve the survival rate for gastric cancer, but it is still controversial whether surgery could bring any substantial survival benefit to gastric cancer patients with synchronous liver metastasis. We retrospectively analyzed pathological and clinical data of 39 gastric patients with liver metastasis who underwent gastric-hepatic radical resection to explore the related prognostic factors. In the whole group of 39 patients, 1-, 2-, 3-and 5-year RFS rates were 30.8, 12.8, 10.3 and 7.7 %; 1-, 2-, 3-and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 56.4, 25.6, 17.9 and 10.3 %, respectively. Compared with patients without surgery, operative ones had a statistically significant long-term survival rate. With univariate analysis, lymph node metastasis (N stage), soft tissue invasion and number of liver metastases were significant prognostic factors associated with OS time of synchronous liver metastasis after radical gastrectomy (P<0.05). What is more, N stage and number of liver metastases were independent factors associated with OS in multivariate analysis. For gastric adenocarcinoma with liver metastases, surgery maybe a superior option if complete resection of gastric and hepatic lesions is feasible and careful postoperative supporting treatment could be received at the same time, especially ones who had less number of liver metastases.