Outcomes after completion total gastrectomy for gastric remnant cancer: experience from a Canadian tertiary centre.

BACKGROUND: There is controversy about the safety and outcomes of completion total gastrectomy (CTG) for gastric adenocarcinoma. We compared a cohort of patients who underwent CTG for gastric remnant cancer (GRC) after partial gastrectomy for benign disease with patients who underwent primary total gastrectomy (PTG) for sporadic gastric cancer.

METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed a single-institution, prospectively maintained clinical database of patients who had undergone gastrectomy from 2005 to 2016 for demographic, surgical, clinical and tumour pathology data, as well as postoperative, pathologic and oncologic outcomes including complications, length of stay, disease-free survival and overall survival. We used the χ2 and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests to compare groups and performed the Mantel-Cox log-rank test for Kaplan-Meier survival estimates. We compared the CTG group to all patients in the PTG group and to a 5:1 propensity-matched PTG cohort.

RESULTS: We analyzed data for 64 patients (9 CTG, 55 PTG). The groups were equivalent at baseline and had similar operative, perioperative treatment and pathologic characteristics. After propensity matching, the reoperation rate for complications was higher after CTG than PTG (22% v. 0%, p = 0.03), but there was no significant difference in the overall complication rate or length of stay. At 5 years, there was no difference in disease-free survival (28% v. 58%, p = 0.4) or overall survival (33% v. 44%, p = 0.7).

CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that CTG for gastric adenocarcinoma can be undertaken safely a priori with no additional risk of recurrence or death compared to PTG for sporadic gastric cancer.