Postoperative recurrence of the stomach cancer is still disapponting factor for the surgeon in spite of improved results of gastric cancer surgery. Especially, peritoneal recurrence is one of the most common form of postoperative recurrence.
Intraoperative peritoneal washing cytology was taken for affirming the presence of cancer cell in the pouch of Douglas, During the period from January 1988 to December 1989, 177 cases of gastric cancer patients underwent surgery and the washing
cytology
was carried out. The relationships between the stages of gastric cancer, peritoneal metastasis, depth of wall invasion, type of operation in cases with serosal invasion, macroscopic classification, location of stomach cancer and the cytologic
findings
were reviewed, and the following results were obtained.
1) Rate of positive cytology increased according to the stage, depth of invasion peritoneal involvement, and macroscopic appearance of tumor.
2) Cytology in cases of curative resection revealed intraperitoneal free cancer cell in 12.9%.
3) In stage IV, cytologic results showed no significant difference of the survival of the patient.
4) Further studies will be needed on the effect of intraperitoneal free cancer cell in the pattern of recurrence and its management.
|