Beyond 5 Years: The Lifesaving Power of Long-Term Follow-Up After Stomach Cancer Surgery

A study showed that even patients five years after gastric cancer surgery need long-term follow-up to increase their survival rate.

Professor Lee Joo-hee’s team at Hanyang University Hospital’s Department of Surgery compared the overall mortality rate and post-recurrence survival rate of 40,468 patients who underwent gastrectomy with those who received regular follow-up five years after surgery and those who did not. He said it came out.

As the recurrence rate after surgery decreases and treatment outcomes improve, the number of long-term survivors of stomach cancer over 5 years is increasing. In this regard, many patients tend to have less regular checkups 5 years after surgery or to receive endoscopy and abdominal CT irregularly. Accordingly, in many cases, when late recurrence or recurrence due to residual stomach cancer occurs 5 years after surgery, the survival rate is significantly lower.

As a result of the study, among patients five years after surgery, the group that received regular follow-up showed a significant difference in overall mortality and survival after recurrence compared to the group that did not. In particular, the survival rate after recurrence of patients who received regular follow-up in the event of late recurrence or residual gastric cancer was 71.1%, which was much higher than the 32.7% of patients who did not receive follow-up. Additionally, through regular follow-up, the 15-year mortality rate after gastric cancer surgery was reduced from 49.4% to 36.9%.

Approximately 8% of patients experience late recurrence 5 years after gastric cancer surgery, and regular follow-up using endoscopy and abdominopelvic CT before diagnosis of recurrence improved the survival rate after late recurrence to 74.5%.

Follow-up interval was also found to be an important factor. If the interval between endoscopy or abdominopelvic CT examination exceeded 2 years, the survival rate after recurrence decreased significantly. For endoscopy, the risk of death was 1.72 times higher, and for abdominal CT, it was 1.48 times higher.

Professor Lee Joo-hee, Department of Surgery, Hanyang University Hospital

Professor Lee Joo-hee said, “Existing guidelines only recommend 5 years of follow-up after gastric cancer surgery, but the results of this study show that regular follow-up is necessary even beyond 5 years.” He added, “In particular, regular examinations combining endoscopy and abdominal CT “It is a great help in detecting recurrence early and increasing the survival rate,” he emphasized.

The results of this study were published in the latest issue of ‘JAMA Surgery’, an SCI-level international academic journal.

Reporter Jeong Jin-su jen@segye.com

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