title: Postoperative follow-up of patients with gastric cancer according to nodal status.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the present study was to determine the suitable postoperative management of patients with gastric cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 161 patients with gastric cancer who developed recurrence after curative resection were reviewed retrospectively to investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of recurrence in subgroups classified according to the Japanese Classification of Gastric Cancer (JCGC) staging system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survival analysis of recurrent cases alone demonstrated significant differences in disease-free survival (DFS) among groups according to the pN stage (p=0.0009); however, there was no significant difference among groups according to the pT stage (p=0.39). Eighty percent of recurrences developed within 32, 25, and 15 months in the N0, N1/2 and N3 groups, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study demonstrated that DFS and post-recurrent survival significantly differed among groups according to pN stage. These findings may provide useful information for maximizing the efficiency of postoperative follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Division of Digestive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajii-cho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 802-8566, Japan. ichikawa@koto.kpu-m.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Katsutoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shoda
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: Shuhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shiozaki
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.forename: Eigo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Otsuji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019468:Disease Management; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: DFS; Postoperative follow-up; gastric cancer; nodal status; recurrence