Radiotherapy Technique can be Important on Survival in Patients with Gastric Cancer Treated with Postoperative Chemoradiotherapy

Abstract

OBJECTIVEThis study aims to investigate the clinical and pathological features of gastric carcinoma and to evaluatethe survival of the patients with gastric carcinoma receiving postoperative chemoradiotherapy.METHODSIn this study, two hundred and four patients who received postoperative chemoradiotherapy for gastriccancer in our clinic from 1999 to 2014 were evaluated retrospectively. Clinical prognostic factors affecting survival were studied.RESULTSThe median follow-up period was 30.52 months. Overall survival time was 80.47±5.04 months, and the5-year survival rate was 47.0±4.1%. Overall disease-free survival (DFS) time was 84.58±5.38 months. Alower number of dissected lymph nodes and a higher number of metastatic lymph nodes were found tobe related to increased risk of death and also a higher risk for recurrence. Stage 3 cancer was found tohave a higher recurrence risk than stage 1 and 2. Recipients of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) treatment had a lower risk of death compared to the patients that received 2D treatment.CONCLUSIONPostoperative chemoradiotherapy should be considered for all the patients with a high risk of recurrenceafter gastrectomy. In addition to the well-known prognostic factors, such as stage, lymph node metastasis, lymphatic dissection type, radiotherapy technique, was also found to be an important prognosticfactor in our study. These results suggest that there is a long-term survival benefit for the patients treatedwith 3DCRT.