Analysis of exfoliated gastric carcinoma cells attached on surgical supplies

Surgery is considered to have a leading role in the treatment of gastric carcinoma. Surgical supplies are used to cut, divide, and ligate during surgery, and are not only in close contact with normal tissues, but may also be contaminated by pathological tissues and cells. This study sought to determine the presence of exfoliated tumor cells on surgical supplies at different stages during the surgical procedure. We collected five types of surgical supplies from 90 patients who underwent D2 radical gastrectomy to find out if there was any cancer cells attached to them. Highest numbers of cancer cells were found on gauze used to clean the surgical instruments and on the gloves of scrub nurses. The likelihood of finding cancer cells increased with advancing clinical stage of disease, lower differentiation of cancer cells, increasing frequency of use of supplies and extent of contact, and was also associated with the characteristic of surgical supplies. Dissemination of tumor cells could be prevented by using a number of methods, depending on the type of surgical supply items.