Most patients who undergo gastric cancer staging by lymph node sampling have inadequate assessments that compromise survival, according to a new study. Published in the November 1, 2006 issue of CANCER (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer-newsroom), a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study reveals that less than one third of gastric cancer patients had adequate lymph node assessments (ALNA). This had a profound effect on patient survival. Median survival in the region with the highest ALNA rate (53 percent) was 33 months compared to just 17 months in the worst rate (19 percent). A change in the staging system guidelines in 1997 was intended to improve staging of gastric cancers, but made only small improvements in the quality of lymph node assessments.
