Background Elderly patients with gastric cancer are frequently treated surgically in current clinical practice. Although several studies have investigated short‐term outcomes after gastrectomy in elderly patients, most did not evaluate long‐term outcomes. Methods We analyzed 1154 consecutive patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for gastric cancer between 2001 and 2013. We classified them into two groups: the elderly group (n = 241), consisting of patients aged ≥75 years, and the non‐elderly group (n = 913), consisting of patients aged <75 years, and compared the short‐ and long‐term outcomes between the two groups. The risk factors for death from other diseases in elderly patients were also examined. Results Although the incidence of postoperative pneumonia was significantly higher in the elderly group (P < 0.001), the proportion of overall postoperative complications did not differ significantly between the two groups (P = 0.097). The disease‐specific survival was similar between the two groups (P = 0.743), whereas the overall survival in the elderly group was significantly shorter than that in the non‐elderly group (P < 0.001) because of a higher incidence of death from other diseases throughout all gastric cancer stages. Multivariate analysis revealed that a low preoperative prognostic nutrition index (PNI) and multiple comorbidities were significant risk factors for death from other diseases within 5 years in the elderly group. Conclusions Despite acceptable short‐term outcomes, long‐term outcomes in elderly patients with gastric cancer were poor due to the high incidence of death from other diseases. Indications for surgery in elderly patients with a low PNI or multiple comorbidities should be considered carefully.

BackgroundBone metastasis due to gastric cancer is rare, and the clinical features have not been fully evaluated. We investigated the clinical features, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors in gastric cancer patients with bone metastasis.MethodsWe retrospectively collected data on 34 consecutive patients who were diagnosed radiologically with bone metastasis due to gastric cancer. We estimated the overall survival after the diagnosis of bone metastasis using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method and evaluated which clinicopathological factors were associated with prognostic factors for survival using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models.ResultsThe treatment for the primary tumor was surgery in 16 patients (47.1%) and chemotherapy in 18 patients (52.9%). The median serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels at the time of bone metastasis were 375.5 and 249 IU/L, respectively. Ten patients (29.4%) were diagnosed with bone metastasis and gastric cancer at the same time. The 6-month survival rate after the diagnosis of bone metastasis was 63.8%, and the median survival time was 227.5 days. Multivariate analysis revealed that metachronous metastasis (p = 0.035) and extraosseous metastasis (p = 0.028) were significant risk factors for poor survival.ConclusionsThe prognosis of gastric cancer with bone metastasis was poor, and metachronous metastasis and extraosseous metastasis were shown to be poor prognostic factors. Serum ALP, LDH, and tumor markers are not always high, so aggressive diagnosis using appropriate modalities such as bone scan, MRI, or PET-CT may be necessary in routine practice even in asymptomatic patients.

Older age, especially over 65 years, and postoperative infectious complications were independent risk factors for poor compliance with adjuvant S-1 chemotherapy for gastric cancer.

Patients with multiple comorbidities had a significantly higher incidence of postoperative complications after gastrectomy. Among the comorbidities studied, pulmonary and vascular diseases had the strongest association with postoperative complications.

Background The antitumor effects of antiplatelet agents in gastric cancer cells are not well known. In this study, the possibility of gastric cancer treatment with an antiplatelet agent, mainly aspirin, was examined both in vivo and in vitro. Methods For in vivo experiments, tumor-bearing mice were treated by an antiplatelet antibody or aspirin, and the tumor growth was compared. For in vitro experiments, human gastric cancer cell lines were used to confirm the cancer cell growth and inhibition by reducing the platelet count or using aspirin. We also examined several cytokines by using an ELISA assay and conducted microRNA microarray analysis of MKN-45 tumor cells to determine the influence of platelets or aspirin. Results In vivo experiments showed that tumor growth was inhibited by halving the circulating platelet count by using an antiplatelet antibody or peroral daily aspirin. In vitro experiments showed that the proliferation rates of gastric cancer cell lines were increased after coincubation with platelets and that the effect was inhibited by aspirin. Although the expression of interleukin-6, platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor-b, and prostaglandin E2 did not correlate with tumor growth inhibition by aspirin, seven microRNAs showed altered expression in cancer cells in response to coincubation with platelets or addition of aspirin. Cells transfected with mir-4670-5p showed a significant increase in proliferation compared to negative control cells. Conclusions Our study showed that platelets increased the proliferation of gastric cancer cells and that this increase was inhibited by antiplatelet antibody or aspirin. Mir-4670-5p may play an important role in these responses.