Effect of simultaneous splenectomy on the survival of patients undergoing curative gastrectomy for proximal gastric carcinoma

Abstract

Purpose. Splenectomy is sometimes performed simultaneously with curative gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma, especially when the tumor originates in the proximal one-third of the stomach or corpus, or when it invades the entire stomach, in an effort to remove metastatic lymph nodes at the splenic hilus and improve survival. However, splenectomy is not an innocent procedure and may cause increased morbidity and even mortality. Moreover, the long-term effect of splenectomy on survival is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of simultaneous splenectomy on survival in patients with proximal tumors undergoing curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer.