Long-term survival after endoscopic resection for early gastric cancer in the remnant stomach: comparison with radical surgery

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic resection (ER) has recently become standard treatment, even for early gastric cancer (EGC) in the remnant stomach. We aimed to compare long-term survival after ER versus radical surgery for EGC in the remnant stomach. METHODS: We retrospectively compared overall and cause-specific survival of patients who had undergone ER or radical surgery for EGC in the remnant stomach from 1998 to 2012. RESULTS: During the study period, 32 patients with intramucosal (M), two with shallow submucosal (SM1) and eight with deep submucosal (SM2) cancers had undergone ER (ER group) whereas six with M and seven with SM2 cancers had undergone surgery (surgery group). All patients were followed up for a median of 60 months; during follow up, 15 patients died, including three in the ER group with SM2 cancer who died of gastric cancer. The overall 5-year survival rates of M-SM1 and SM2 cancer patients in the ER and surgery groups were 89%, 48%, 80%, and 67%, respectively (P=0.079). The disease-specific 5-year survival rates of M-SM1 and SM2 cancer patients in the ER and surgery groups were 100%, 48%, 100%, and 100%, respectively (P=0.000). Operation time and hospital stay were significantly shorter in the ER than the surgery group (P<0.001). Grade 2 perforation occurred in two patients in the ER group and Grade 3 anastomotic leakage in two patients in the surgery group. CONCLUSION: ER provides excellent outcomes, comparable with those of radical surgery, in patients with M-SM1 gastric cancer in the remnant stomach; however, patients with SM2 cancer require radical surgery.