Fig 1.
The inclusion criteria in flowchart.
The inclusion criteria were as follows; 1. histologically proven gastric adenocarcinoma; 2. the depth of tumor invasion was T3; 3. curative operation; 4. intraoperative peritoneal lavage cytology-negative (Fig 1).
Table 1.
Correlation between peritoneal recurrence and clinicopathologic features in 96 cases at T3 stage.
Fig 2.
The microscopic distance from the tumor invasion front to the serosa.
The microscopic distance from the tumor invasion front to the serosa (DIFS) was calculated by H&E staining and/or pan-cytokeratin staining. Pan-cytokeratin staining was used to determine the cancer cells at the invasion front.
Fig 3.
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with the DIFS.
The cutoff value for DIFS was 234 μm.
Fig 4.
E-cadherin was expressed mainly at the cell membrane.
Table 2.
Univariate and multivariate analysis with respect to peritoneal recurrence.
Fig 5.
Survival of the patients with gastric cancer.
The five-year overall survival of all patients (n = 96) based on the DIFS and on the E-cadherin expression. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve indicates that the five-year overall survival of the patients with a DIFS ≤234 μm was significantly worse than that of the patients with a DIFS >234 (p = 0.007). E-cadherin expression was not associated with the prognosis.
Table 3.
Univariate and multivariate analysis with respect to five-year overall survival.