Lymph node metastases in gastric cancer invading the submucosal layer

We investigated the incidence of lymph node metastasis in 80 patients with early gastric cancer invading the submucosal layer and the relation of metastasis to other clinicopathological variables. All patients underwent curative gastric resection with lymphadenectomy. Lymph node metastasis was detected histologically in 15 patients. The incidence of nodal involvement showed significant increase paralleling the depth of cancer invasion. There was no relation between nodal involvement and histological differentiation. No patients died of gastric cancer during the follow-up. We conclude that gastrectomy with R2 lymphadenectomy is an appropriate operative method for early gastric cancer in which precise diagnosis of cancer invasion cannot be confirmed preoperatively.