Published online Aug 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i16.3474
Peer-review started: March 20, 2020
First decision: April 29, 2020
Revised: July 5, 2020
Accepted: July 16, 2020
Article in press: July 16, 2020
Published online: August 26, 2020
Processing time: 158 Days and 0.5 Hours
Recent evidence showed that combining endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and laparoscopic sentinel lymph node dissection may avoid unnecessary gastrectomy in treating early mucinous gastric cancer (EMGC) patients with risks of positive lymph node metastasis (pLNM).
To explore the predictive factors for pLNM in EMGC, and to optimize the clinical application of combing ESD and sentinel lymph node dissection in a proper subgroup of patients with EMGC.
Thirty-one patients with EMGC who had undergone gastrectomy with lymph node dissection were consecutively enrolled from January 1988 to December 2016. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the association between the rates of pLNM and clinicopathological factors, providing odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval. And the association between the number of predictors and the pLNM rate was also investigated.
Depth of invasion (OR = 7.342, 1.127-33.256, P = 0.039), tumor diameter (OR = 9.158, 1.348-29.133, P = 0.044), and lymphatic vessel involvement (OR = 27.749, 1.821-33.143, P = 0.019) turned out to be significant and might be the independent risk factors for predicating pLNM in the multivariate analysis. For patients with 1, 2, and 3 risk factors, the pLNM rates were 9.1%, 33.3%, and 75.0%, respectively. pLNM was not detected in seven patients without any of these risk factors.
ESD might serve as a safe and sufficient treatment for intramucosal EMGC if tumor size ≤ 2 cm, and when lymphatic vessel involvement is absent by postoperative histological examination. Combining ESD and sentinel lymph node dissection could be recommended as a safe and effective treatment for EMGC patients with a potential risk of pLNM.
Core tip: A combination of laparoscopic sentinel lymph node dissection (SLND) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) may avoid unnecessary surgical intervention in early mucinous gastric cancer (EMGC) patients having a potential risk of positive lymph node metastasis (pLNM). ESD allows the complete local resection of the primary tumor, and SLND enables the confirmation of lymph node status. We performed this current retrospective study to identify risk factors that are predictive factor for pLNM in EMGC and to establish a primary criterion and working flowchart to expand the possibility of using ESD and SLND for the treatment of EMGC. The combination of ESD and SLND could be recommended as an effective, minimally invasive treatment for EMGC patients with a high risk of pLNM.