Palliative resection of gastric cancer cannot replace surgery

Palliative resection of gastric cancer refers to surgical removal of the tumor, but there is still residual tumor in the body. The surgery only reduces the tumor burden in the body, but does not completely eliminate the tumor.

Currently, scholars have different opinions on palliative resection.

One opinion is that palliative resection can only relieve symptoms of pyloric obstruction, bleeding, and pain, but cannot prolong life. Therefore, if a laparotomy finds that the cancer cannot be cured, patients without the above complications should give up resection.

Another opinion is that palliative treatment can be given to some patients who cannot undergo surgical resection to relieve their pain and improve their survival.

Among cases of palliative resection for various reasons, the best outcome was achieved with residual cancer at the cut end, followed by perigastric infiltration, then residual metastatic lymph nodes and liver metastasis, and the worst outcome was with membrane implantation.

In fact, the two different opinions have the same basic point of view: a positive attitude should be taken towards tumor resection, and some curable cases should not be easily subjected to simple palliative resection, causing the patient to lose the chance of cure.

Therefore, even if there is metastasis beyond the scope of radical resection, as long as the patient's general condition permits and the tumor can be locally resected, palliative partial gastrectomy should still be actively sought. Palliative total gastrectomy is generally not recommended because of its high mortality and morbidity rates.