title: SPan-1 is a useful prognostic marker for patients with stage IV gastric cancer who underwent palliative gastrectomy: a retrospective multivariate study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We retrospectively investigated prognostic factors to be used in selecting the patients with stage IV gastric cancer (GC) who have an unfavorable prognosis after palliative gastrectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 146 GC patients at stage IV who had undergone palliative gastrectomy were enrolled. Various clinicopathological parameters were evaluated for prognosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Surgical morbidity and hospital mortality occurred in 35 (23.9 %) and 4 (2.7 %) patients, respectively. The overall 5-year survival rate and the median survival time were 11.2 % and 13.2 months, respectively. Of the 146 patients, 64 had uncomfortable symptoms associated with GC and 76 had no such symptoms. Of the 64 patients with uncomfortable symptoms, 60 (93.7 %) experienced relief of these symptoms after palliative surgery. Multivariate analysis for patients without uncomfortable symptoms associated with GC revealed that the number of incurable factors and serum SPan-1 level were independent prognostic factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with stage IV GC who had multiple incurable factors and a high level of serum SPan-1 might not be candidates for palliative gastrectomy for the purpose of prognostic benefit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan. k-naoshi@med.osaka-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Naoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Masaichi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohira
authors.forename: Katsunobu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toyokawa
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Muguruma
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagahara
authors.forename: Kenjiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.forename: Ryosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amano
authors.forename: Nobuya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yashiro
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Tetsuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Kosei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirakawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005743:Gastrectomy; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010166:Palliative Care; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C059729:pancreatic associated antigen, SPan-1