title: [Correlation study of the longest diameter of gastric cardia cancer and its prognosis].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Based on the longest diameter of cancer of gastric cardia, to formulate a new way of staging for better assessment of prognosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1,536 cases of resected carcinoma of the gastric cardia through left thoracic approach was statistically analyzed using STATA 5.0 software. The survival rate was estimated using life table method. The difference in survival rate between groups was evaluated by the log-rank test. The ratio difference between groups was evaluated by chi 2 test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The longest tumor diameter was divided into 6 grades according to its length: grade I, < 2 cm; grade II, 2 cm-< 4 cm; grade III, 4 cm-< 6 cm; grade IV, 6 cm-< 8 cm; grade V, 8 cm-< 11 cm and grade VI, > or = 11 cm. The 5-year survival rate was 61.5% in grade I, 44.4% in grade II, 26.4% in grade III, 20.5% in grade IV, 16.1% in grade V and 5.7% in grade VI, respectively. There was statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) in 5-year survival rate between 2 grades from grade II to grade VI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The longest tumor diameter is of prognostic significance in cancer of gastric cardia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Cancer Institute (Hospital), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery