Background and Objectives: Metastatic pattern of lymph node (LN) and surgery options for gastric stump cancer (GSC) remain controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate LN metastasis and lymphadenectomy for GSC for curative purposes. Methods: Sixty-seven patients with GSC were analyzed retrospectively. Results: The metastatic rates of LN were as follows: 63.3% in right cardia (No. 1), 33.3% in left cardia (No. 2), 75.0% in lesser curvature (No. 3), 53.3% in greater curvature (No. 4), 40.0% in celiac artery (No. 9), 60.0% in splenic hilus (No. 10), 72.7% in splenic artery (No. 11), 36.1% in hepatoduodenal ligament (No. 12), 8.3% in retropancreatic (No. 13), 21.4% in para-aortic (No. 16), 50% in supra-diaphragm (No. 111), 16.7% in LN within jejunal mesentery, respectively. All nine patients who only received simple laparotomy died within 1 year. The overall 5-year survival rate of GSC was 17.9% (12/67), including 100% for stage I, 80.0% for stage 11, 12.1% for stage III, and 0% for stage IV. Moreover, the 5-year survival rate (36.7%, 11/30) for curative patients was significantly better than that (3.6%, 1/28) of non-curative patients (chi(2) = 7.76, P < 0.01). Conclusions: Our results imply that GSC has a wide range of LN metastases, including LN within jejunal mesentery in B-II reconstruction cases, and curable resection may obtain better results. Therefore, we suggest that radical operation for B-I patients needs removal of gastroduodenectomy anastomosis and the above LNs, and that B-II patients need removal of 10 cm of jejunurn besides gastrojejunostomy anastomosis, and clearance of LN within its mesentery, in addition to B-I GSC.
