The importance of surgical margins in gastric cancer.

Interpretation and management of the surgical margin is paramount to the treatment of gastric adenocarcinoma. Although in early-stage disease, a microscopically positive margin may be associated with poor outcomes, in later stages, it does not persist as an independent poor prognostic factor but rather is likely a marker of other adverse pathologic characteristics that ultimately determine outcomes. Thus, the decision to extend a resection to achieve a negative margin should be deliberate and individualized.