title: Body mass index determines the success of lymph node dissection and predicts the outcome of gastric carcinoma patients.
abstract: We tried to determine the role of the body mass index (BMI) on the extent of lymph node dissection in gastric cancer surgery. Seven hundred and eighty-seven patients with gastric carcinoma were reviewed. Ninety-two (11%) patients exceeded the upper limit of the optimum BMI. Significantly fewer lymph nodes were removed following D2 (p = 0.002) and >/=D3 (p = 0.023) dissections, and the lymph node ratio was significantly (p = 0.0383) higher in overweight patients. The recurrence-free survival was significantly (p = 0.0297) shorter in T2/T3 cases with high BMI, and BMI (relative risk 1.85) became an independent prognostic factor in multivariate analysis. Higher BMI hampers regional lymph node dissection in gastric cancer patients and became an independent predictor of disease recurrences in T2/T3 gastric cancers.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, Shimane Medical University, Izumo, Japan.nigeka33@shimane-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Dhar
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tachibana
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kotoh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tabara
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masunaga
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kohno
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nagasue
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D011379:Prognosis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis