The Clinical Outcome of Conversion Surgery for Unresectable Gastric Cancers in Our Institution

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the development of chemotherapy has been remarkable. Some cases of conversion surgery for unresectable gastric cancer have been reported. METHODS: The clinical outcome of 11 patients with far advanced gastric cancer who underwent conversion surgery in our hospital from January 2013 to May 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The median survival time was 592 days(355-1,460). Four patients died of recurrent gastric cancer. Patients with undifferentiated carcinoma dominant had significantly poor survival rather than with differentiated carcinoma dominant(p= 0.039). Meanwhile, the pathological responders for chemotherapy did not have significantly better survival rather than nonresponders. CONCLUSIONS: Although the short term outcome of conversion surgery was acceptable, recurrent rate was still high. To improve the prognosis, clarifying the optimal timing of operation and more effective adjuvant chemotherapy are mandatory.