Changing trends in clinico-pathologic characteristics and treatment outcomes in patients with gastric cancer: A single-center, public hospital, retrospective study

Gastric cancer (GC) is known as the 5th most common malignancy, and it is also the 3rd leading cause of death worldwide [1]. Despite a recent decline in its incidence in developed countries, 1.3 million patients are annually diagnosed with GC. This is also accompanied by a report of 819,000 cases of deaths in 2015 [2]. In Korea, GC is the 2nd most prevalent cancer and the 3rd leading cause of death [3]. Despite considerable advancements in outcomes of GC treatment, accompanied by improved prognosis, which are attributable to early diagnosis, radical operation and development of adjuvant therapies, its poor prognosis remains worrisome [4]. Over several decades, there have been great advancements in treatment modalities and strategies for patients with GC. This is accompanied by recent trends in which treatment approaches have been customized to both patient and tumor characteristics [5]. Furthermore, there have been dramatic changes in treatment strategy, which is mainly due to advances in chemotherapy. Still, however, curative surgery remains a main stay of treatment for patients with GC. There is a variability in the survival rate depending on Original Article Korean Journal of Clinical Oncology 2018;14:69-75 https://doi.org/10.14216/kjco.18013 pISSN 1738-8082 ∙ eISSN 2288-4084