title: Feasibility of gastric cancer surgery at low volume hospitals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Most gastric cancer patients undergo operations at large tertiary hospitals in Korea. However, some patients are treated at low volume hospitals. We investigated patient outcomes after gastric surgery at a secondary hospital and compared with outcomes of large volume centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included 184 patients who underwent gastric surgery for gastric cancer at our hospital from January 2003 to December 2008. We conducted a retrospective study and evaluated the clinicopathological characteristics, clinical outcomes and survival rate of patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age was 61.7 years old. Male to female ratio was 2.2 : 1. Proportion of early gastric cancer was 38.6% and that of advanced gastric cancer was 61.4%. The 5 year overall survival rate of 184 patients was 66.3%. The overall survival rate was significantly lower for people over 62 years old. The morbidity rate and mortality at our hospital were 10.3% and 0.5%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall survival rate, morbidity and mortality were similar to those of the previous reports from Korea. Treatment of gastric cancer at a secondary hospital is feasible and safe. Standardization of operations and management of gastric cancer patients of the Korean Gastric Cancer Association is the most important factor to achieve these outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The Catholic University of Korea, School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Maru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jongkyung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sung Geun
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seonghye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Sangsub
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Seong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
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