Prognostic significance of splenectomy during completion total gastrectomy in patients with remnant gastric cancer: propensity score matching analysis

PURPOSE: Splenectomy for patients with remnant gastric cancer has been controversial. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of splenectomy in the treatment of remnant gastric cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 285 patients with remnant gastric cancer who underwent completion total gastrectomy with or without splenectomy in Samsung Medical Center, between September 1996 and December 2017. We used a 1:1 propensity score matching method for the analysis. The matching factors were age, sex, and pathologic stage. After the matching process, we compared the 5-year overall survival (OS) and the disease-free survival (DFS) between patients with and without splenectomy during completion total gastrectomy. RESULTS: The median duration of follow-up was 58.0 months (range, 0–132 months). After propensity score matching, there were no statistically significant differences between the splenectomy group (n=77) and no splenectomy group (n=77) in terms of clinicopathological features. The 5-year OS rate between the no splenectomy and splenectomy group were not significantly different. There was no significant difference between 5-year DFS of the matched groups. Multivariate analysis revealed that splenectomy is not a significant prognostic factor in terms of 5-year OS (no splenectomy vs. splenectomy; 61.5% vs. 60.2%, P=0.884) or DFS (74.9% vs. 69.8%, P=0.880). CONCLUSION: Splenectomy has no impact on the OS and DFS in patients with remnant gastric cancer. Splenectomy during completion total gastrectomy may not be necessary.