Patterns of neoplastic recurrence in gastrectomized elderly patients

Materials and methods All patients who received a gastrectomy for adenocarcinoma in our surgical department from January 1998 to December 2002 were admitted to the study. Inclusion criteria were: a) Curative resection (R0); b)no metastases before surgery; c)no other primitive neoplasms; d)consensus of the patient for a follow-up of 5 years. Recurrence was indicated as haematogenous, peritoneal or locoregional on the basis of the first site of metastases. Patients were divided into two groups by age: cut-off was considered 70 years old.