Total Gastrectomy in Advanced Gastric Cancer

Abstract

From 1977 to 1979 there were forty-two patients with advanced gastric cancer in the hands of the author. Palliative total gastrectomy was performed in twenty-five of them, i.e., fifty-nine per cent. There were thirteen males and twelve females, with the age group ranging from thirty-one to seventy years. Reconstruction of the gastrointestinal tract following total gastrectomy in all cases was by end-to-side esophago-jejunostomy with complimentary jejuno-jejunostomy. There was leakage in two cases ending fatally, i.e., eight per cent. All survivors from the operation could take food orally as normal or near normal. There is one patient still doing well two years after the operation. The only complication was anemia which required occasional blood transfusion. From the result of this study the author advocates that palliative total gastrectomy is a worthwhile operation for patients with advanced gastric cancer.