Prognostic factors for cytology-positive gastric cancer.

PURPOSE: Positive peritoneal lavage cytology for gastric carcinoma cells (CY1) is considered distant metastasis and is classified as Stage IV. However, patients with CY1 comprise a heterogeneous population, and their prognosis varies greatly. The prognostic factors for gastric cancer patients with CY1 were retrospectively reviewed.

METHODS: The participants were 80 gastric cancer patients with CY1 in our institution encountered between 2005 and 2017. Prognostic factors were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses.

RESULTS: The operative procedure was distal gastrectomy for 30 patients, total gastrectomy for 27 patients, staging laparoscopy for 10 patients, gastrojejunostomy for 8 patients, and probe laparotomy for 5 patients. Other distant metastases were recognized in 36 patients. A multivariate analysis revealed that other distant metastases were the strongest independent risk factor for the overall survival (p < 0.0001). When the cohort was limited to CY1 patients without other distant metastases, cN2-3 (p = 0.01), the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) < 40 (p = 0.02) and Type 4 (p = 0.03) were independent risk factors according to a multivariate analysis. The survivals of patients with cN2-3 or PNI < 40 after gastrectomy were equivalent to those with other distant metastases, as assessed by log-rank analyses.

CONCLUSIONS: The prognoses of CY1 gastric cancer patients with cN2-3 or PNI < 40 were poor, even after gastrectomy.