title: Postoperative body-weight loss and survival after curative resection for gastric cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Body-weight loss has been reported as a poor prognostic factor for some malignancies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of postoperative body-weight loss in patients with gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 564 patients who underwent curative resection for gastric cancer, usual body-weight, body-weight at the time of resection and that 6 and 12 months after resection were recorded prospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 5-year survival rate of patients who lost more than 5 per cent of their 6-month postoperative weight by 12 months after resection was 63 per cent while that of patients who maintained 95 per cent or more of their 6-month postoperative weight was 84 per cent (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that serosal invasion, nodal metastasis, body-weight loss during the second 6-month interval after resection and extent of gastric resection were independent prognostic indicators.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When a patient loses body-weight during the second 6-month interval after curative resection for gastric cancer, recurrent disease should be suspected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, 50 Samduk-dong, Taegu, 700-721, Korea. wyu@knu.ac.kr
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: B Y
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011379:Prognosis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology*