Prognostic factors in adenocarcinoma in the upper one-third of the stomach

From 1965 to 1985, 356 of 1,468 patients (24.3 per cent) with carcinoma of the stomach who underwent gastric resection had disease arising from the upper one-third of the stomach. Tumors in the upper one-third of the stomach were larger, and gross appearance of types 3 and 4 was frequent. Serosal invasion was prominent, and the rates of metastases of the lymph nodes and liver were higher in carcinoma in the upper one-third of the stomach compared with carcinoma in other regions of the stomach. Palliative resection was done for 43.8 per cent of the patients. Survival rate for patients with carcinoma in the upper one-third of the stomach was lower than for patients with lesions in other regions of the stomach (p<0.01). Multivariate analysis indicated that operative curability, hepatic metastasis, serosal invasion, lymph node metastasis, peritoneal dissemination and tumor size are significant prognostic factors for carcinoma in the upper one-third of the stomach. These events, except for peritoneal dissemination, differed between carcinoma in the upper one-third of the stomach and in other regions of the stomach, and the survival rate for patients with carcinoma of the upper one-third of the stomach was less favorable. Early detection is crucial for improving the survival time of patients with carcinoma in the upper one-third of the stomach. Aggressive postoperative chemotherapy should be considered when noncurative resection is done.