Multicentric early gastric cancer: current approaches to surgical treatment

Opinions regarding multicentric tumor growth as prognostic factor in early gastric cancer are contradictory. The question about the rational extent of surgery for multicentric early cancer is also controversial. Some authors recommend performing only gastrectomy, others consider that resection of the stomach is adequate in most cases and the third authors consider it is possible to perform endoscopic mucosectomy in some cases. The present study demonstrates treatment results of 394 patients with early gastric cancer who underwent surgery from 1990 to 2008. Multicentric tumor growth was diagnosed in 23 of 394 (5.5 %) patients. All patients received surgical treatment. Multicentric early gastric cancer showed no increase in the rate of lymphogenic metastatsis and worsening of surgical treatment results in comparison with monocentric gastric cancer. Similar survival rates irrespective of the number of foci of early gastric carcinoma indicate no prognostic significance of multicentric growth for early gastric cancer.