title: Survival of patients treated by an autonomic nerve-preserving gastrectomy for early gastric cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Autonomic nerve preservation in a gastrectomy for gastric cancer improves the postoperative quality of life. We retrospectively examined the survival of patients treated by an autonomic nerve-preserving gastrectomy in comparison to the survival of the patients treated by a conventional gastrectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The survival of 385 patients treated by an autonomic nerve-preserving gastrectomy for clinical early gastric cancer (the ANP group) was compared with that of 285 patients treated by a conventional gastrectomy (non-ANP group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the ANP group, the numbers of patients with tumor invasion to the mucosa, submucosa, and muscularis propria were 210, 166, and 9, respectively, whereas the numbers of patients with lymph node metastasis grades of N0, N1, and N2 were 360, 21, and 4, respectively. The overall 5-year survival rate of the ANP group was 94.7%, which was superior to that of the non-ANP group (90.4%; P = 0.003). The 5-year survival rates of patients with lymph node metastasis were 94.9% and 91.8% in the ANP and non-ANP groups, respectively (P = 0.733). Only 3 patients in the ANP group died from gastric cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The survival of patients treated by an autonomic nerve-preserving gastrectomy was equivalent to that of patients treated by a conventional gastrectomy, thus suggesting that an autonomic nervepreserving gastrectomy could be a useful procedure for the treatment of early gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Hiroshima City Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sasada
authors.forename: Motoki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ninomiya
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishizaki
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harano
authors.forename: Yasutomo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ojima
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsukawa
authors.forename: Shigehiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shiozaki
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: Norihisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takakura
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013270:Stomach / Q000294:innervation / Q000601:surgery; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome