Indications for Staging Laparoscopy in Clinical T4M0 Gastric Cancer

Background: This study was undertaken to determine the efficacy of the clinical indications for performing staging laparoscopy for locally advanced gastric cancer to detect peritoneal metastasis or positive cytology findings.

Methods: The study included 231 patients with T4 gastric cancer without hematogenous or clinically evident peritoneal metastasis. The clinicopathologic features, including T and N factors, were diagnosed by clinical staging. The relation between the clinicopathologic features and the presence of peritoneal metastasis or lavage cytology at surgery was analyzed.

Results: A total of 31 patients underwent staging laparoscopy; 200 others underwent open surgery as a primary treatment. Both peritoneal metastasis and lavage cytology were negative in 145 (62.8%) patients, whereas peritoneal metastasis or lavage cytology was positive in 86 patients (37.2%). When calculating diagnostic accuracy in the 23 patients who underwent open laparotomy after staging laparoscopy, the accuracy rate was 95.7%. A multivariate analysis showed that a tumor location involving three portions; macroscopic type 3, 4, or 5; and positive lymph node metastasis to all three is significantly correlated with either peritoneal metastasis or positive cytology. When patients had two or three factors among these three independent risk factors, peritoneal metastasis or positive cytology could be detected with 91.9% sensitivity and 46.7% positive predictive value.

Conclusions: The selection of T4 tumors based on clinically evaluable risk factors is therefore considered useful for detecting peritoneal metastasis efficiently and hence avoiding unnecessary staging laparoscopy.